The academy examination was finally over.
Lucas walked away from the academy grounds with his hands in his pockets.
The sun was beginning to set.
Around him, students were talking about their performances.
Some were confident.
Others were already worried about whether their scores would be enough.
Lucas barely paid attention.
His mind was focused on one thing.
Level 30.
He opened his status.
[STATUS]
Name: Lucas
Level: 29
Rank: E
Class: None
Ability: Boost Breaker
Hidden Ability: Time Manipulation — ???
[BOOST BREAKER]
Current Rank: E
Abilities:
Basic Enhancement
Strength Enhancement
Speed Enhancement
Break Limit
Impact Break
Quest System: Active
[D-RANK REQUIREMENTS]
Level 30: 29/30
Required Energy Capacity: COMPLETE
Advanced Power Control: COMPLETE
E-Rank Dungeon: COMPLETE
E-Rank Monster Requirement: COMPLETE
Lucas stared at the information.
Everything except Level 30 was complete.
Once he reached Level 30, Boost Breaker would be ready to begin his D-Rank advancement process.
Lucas closed the status window.
There was something important about his situation that almost nobody in the world knew.
Boost Breaker wasn’t a normal ability.
And Lucas hadn’t understood that during his first life.
In his first life, Lucas had awakened with Boost Breaker just like he had this time.
At first, he didn’t think much of it.
The ability sounded useful.
It increased his physical abilities.
It allowed him to strengthen his body.
But compared to some of the abilities other Awakeners possessed, Boost Breaker seemed ordinary.
Some people could control fire.
Some could manipulate ice.
Some could summon creatures.
Others awakened with abilities that could destroy entire groups of monsters.
Lucas had looked at those abilities and assumed he had been unlucky.
So he didn’t take Boost Breaker seriously.
He trained his body.
He completed missions.
He joined battles.
He searched for equipment that could compensate for what he believed was a mediocre ability.
Years passed.
Then, much later in his first life, Lucas discovered the truth.
Boost Breaker wasn’t simply a physical enhancement ability.
It had a progression system.
Its abilities could evolve.
Its power increased as its user grew.
And most importantly, its true potential had been hidden behind conditions Lucas hadn’t known existed.
By the time he finally understood what he had awakened with, he had already wasted years.
Lucas remembered the feeling clearly.
Regret.
He had spent most of his first life believing Boost Breaker was weak.
He had never realized that he had been sitting on an ability capable of becoming something far greater.
He eventually began taking it seriously.
He learned how to use every ability.
He learned how to control its power.
He discovered the strange progression system.
He learned that the higher Boost Breaker went, the more abnormal its abilities became.
But he never had enough time.
His life ended before he could discover everything.
Lucas looked at his hand.
This time was different.
He already knew.
He wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.
A notification appeared.
[D-RANK REQUIREMENTS]
[Level Requirement: INCOMPLETE]
[Current Level: 29]
[Remaining Experience Required: 1 Level]
Lucas looked at the message.
Then another notification appeared.
[ALL OTHER REQUIREMENTS COMPLETE]
[BOOST BREAKER IS PREPARED FOR RANK ADVANCEMENT]
[ADVANCEMENT WILL BECOME AVAILABLE WHEN LEVEL 30 IS REACHED]
Lucas smiled.
“So that’s how it’s going to work.”
He closed the notification. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
There was something else he understood now.
Normal Awakeners didn’t have this kind of system.
They didn’t have advancement quests.
They didn’t have advancement dungeons.
They didn’t have requirements displayed in front of them.
When a normal Awakener became strong enough to reach the next rank, they simply felt the change.
Their awakened power would break through its natural limit.
Their body would adapt.
Their energy would increase.
And their rank would naturally rise.
That was the normal process.
An F-Rank Awakener who became strong enough would naturally become E-Rank.
An E-Rank Awakener who reached the next threshold would naturally become D-Rank.
And so on.
There was no special ceremony.
No government test.
No dungeon.
It simply happened.
Lucas’s F-Rank to E-Rank advancement had been relatively normal.
Boost Breaker had guided him toward the conditions required for his first advancement, but the process itself wasn’t completely different from what other Awakeners experienced.
E-Rank was different.
From this point forward, Boost Breaker’s true abnormality would begin to show.
Once Lucas reached the conditions required for D-Rank, Boost Breaker wouldn’t simply let him rank up naturally.
It would ask him if he was ready.
If he accepted, he would be transported to a random dungeon.
That dungeon would become his advancement trial.
Lucas wouldn’t know where it would send him.
He wouldn’t know what monsters would be inside.
He wouldn’t know what challenge waited for him.
Only by completing the dungeon would Boost Breaker allow him to advance.
And that process would continue for every rank after D-Rank.
Lucas understood exactly how strange that was.
Nobody else in the world experienced rank progression like this.
That was why he had to keep Boost Breaker hidden.
He couldn’t let people know what was happening.
Lucas started walking toward the train station.
His phone vibrated.
A message from the academy appeared.
[IMPERIAL AWAKENER ACADEMY]
[Entrance examination results will be released in three days.]
Lucas read the message once.
Three days.
That gave him plenty of time.
He needed one more level anyway.
He could complete another mission.
Gain the experience he needed.
Reach Level 30.
Then Boost Breaker would be ready.
Lucas arrived at the train station.
While waiting, he noticed several newly awakened students nearby.
They were talking about ranks.
“I’m still F-Rank.”
“Same.”
“My brother reached E-Rank last year.”
“How long did it take?”
“Almost two years.”
Lucas listened quietly.
Another student spoke.
“My father has been E-Rank for twelve years.”
Someone laughed.
“Then he probably isn’t getting to D-Rank.”
The student shrugged.
“Maybe not.”
Lucas understood.
That was the reality for most Awakeners.
Ranking up was difficult.
People couldn’t simply fight monsters endlessly and expect their rank to increase.
Their bodies had limits.
Their energy had limits.
Their awakened abilities had limits.
Some people reached their natural ceiling and stayed there for years.
Others remained at the same rank for their entire lives.
And then there were people like Lucas.
An anomaly.
Not because he had awakened at some impossible rank.
But because Boost Breaker gave him a path nobody else possessed.
The train arrived.
Lucas stepped inside.
He found an empty seat and sat down.
The city passed outside the window.
He opened the Awakener Administration application on his phone.
Several missions appeared.
Most were low-level.
Monster extermination.
Dungeon cleanup.
Resource collection.
Security assignments.
Lucas ignored most of them.
Then he found one that caught his attention.
[LOCATION: DISTRICT 12]
[MISSION TYPE: MONSTER EXTERMINATION]
[OBJECTIVE: Eliminate monsters inside an E-Rank dungeon.]
[RECOMMENDED PARTY: 3–5]
[REWARD: Government Payment + Dungeon Contribution Points]
Lucas selected it.
“Perfect.”
He accepted the mission.
The train continued moving.
Lucas leaned back.
This would be his last mission before Level 30.
Once he reached that level, Boost Breaker would finally be ready to begin his D-Rank progression.
He wasn’t nervous.
He had already experienced something similar once before.
But this time, he understood what was happening.
In his first life, he had entered Boost Breaker’s advancement process without fully understanding the ability.
Now he knew exactly what he was dealing with.
He could prepare.
He could plan.
And he could take advantage of everything he had learned.
Lucas smiled.
“I won’t waste it this time.”
The train stopped.
Lucas stepped off.
He walked toward the mission meeting point.
Three other Awakeners were waiting.
One was a young man carrying a spear.
Another was a girl with a bow.
The third was a short man wearing light armor.
The spear user looked at Lucas.
“You’re Lucas?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Ethan.”
He pointed toward the others.
“That’s Sarah and Noah.”
Lucas nodded.
“Nice to meet you.”
Sarah looked at his registration information.
“E-Rank.”
Lucas nodded.
“Yeah.”
She didn’t seem surprised.
There was nothing unusual about an E-Rank Awakener joining an E-Rank mission.
Lucas kept his level hidden.
He didn’t want them knowing how close he was to Level 30.
Ethan raised his spear.
“Let’s get moving.”
The group entered the dungeon.
Lucas followed behind them.
The dungeon was dark.
The walls were covered in glowing crystals.
Several monsters could be heard deeper inside.
Lucas activated his senses.
He could already feel their presence.
His hand tightened.
One more level.
Then Boost Breaker would finally ask him the question he had been waiting for.
Are you ready?
Lucas didn’t know what dungeon it would choose.
He didn’t know what challenge would await him.
But he knew one thing.
This time, he would take Boost Breaker seriously from the beginning.
A monster emerged from the darkness.
Then another.
Then another.
Ethan raised his spear.
“Get ready!”
The monsters charged.
Lucas stepped forward.
[Strength Enhancement]
Power flowed through his body.
He moved.
His fist struck the first monster.
BOOM!
The creature flew backward.
Lucas turned toward the next one.
He activated Speed Enhancement.
His body blurred forward.
Another monster fell.
His experience began rising.
Lucas looked at the notification appearing in the corner of his vision.
[EXP ACQUIRED]
A faint smile appeared on his face.
Level 30 was coming.
And with it would come the first true advancement of Boost Breaker.
Lucas clenched his fist.
“One more level.”
The dungeon shook as more monsters emerged from the darkness.
Lucas stepped forward.
His journey toward D-Rank had officially begun.