I Reject Quests

Aya tilted her head. "How?"

"They literally bullied a guy from my class for being ugly to an extreme degree. Every single day the guy came to the class, he also goes to the infirmary. On top of that, he also had a condition where it is certain that he could die in five months. Tell me that they are sane people."

"Oh… that guy…" When Aya heard the 'five months', she immediately figured who the guy was. "But… why are you saying this now?"

Imada couldn't answer for a while, then opened his mouth. "Because I feel bad for him. My seat was close to him and I often chatted with him. As for whether we can be counted as friends… I don't know but there was something pitiful about him."

"Did you do anything to stop him from getting bullied?"

"I didn't." Imada honestly said.

"Then why bring it up now?"

"I was thinking about it last night. I was thinking… after all this, why not go through my life and reflect upon myself? Along the journey, I saw myself at my best when I made my family proud by scoring high marks and saw myself at my ugliest when I merged myself with the class and engaged in group thinking and activities rather than thinking about what I was doing."

"So you are having this realization after the guy died?" Aya stared at him with a nonchalant look.

"Indeed. It's a bit late…" Imada couldn't deny it.

Aya suddenly smiled. "No, you aren't late at all. If you are late, then what are Koyami and Asuka? Give some time. Not everyone is as… as mature as you…" By the end of her sentence, she turned a bit red. She wasn't used to calling a person younger than her mature, especially when the other person is her boyfriend.

Imada blanked out. He had never thought about it that way. After a while, he stared at Aya with a serious expression. "Thank you."

Aya's smile widened but just as she was about to say something, Koshikawa came to them.

"Let's go and take a look around." 

Imada agreed. He knew why he proposed this. The situation right now is very chaotic and it's difficult to sit down and plan at this time. The moment he would try to speak on a matter, Koyami and Asuka interrupt or refute him. So that's why he needed to take a step back and let them cool down.

***

An hour later.

Looking at the teenagers in front of him, the magician sighed. 'Kids are indeed troublesome. Fortunately, it has been resolved quickly.'

"Now then… where were we? Ah, the introductions. Is there left for an introduction?" He swept his eyes from left to right, then continued. "No, I suppose. Next, before we start planning on how to defeat the beast tide, I want to know how strong each of you is. But even before I know how strong each of you is, we must know what being 'strong' means and I'm not saying it in a philosophical way.

"In this world, people with magical abilities exist. These magical abilities are a direct result of Gruer's Code, or rather, G.C. We call them [Gruer Users]. Everyone who has gone through <<Awakening>> can become a [Gruer User]. To produce an <<Awakened>>, one needs to exhaust his/her inner potential to some degree. There are namely three procedures for <<Awakening>>.

"First, the modern way. This is also the most risk-free way. Feed him/her a jar of Red Soulstan's Blood. It unleashes about 50-55% of the body's potential. If I'm not mistaken, all of you were <<Awakened>> in this way, right?"

After receiving a couple of nods, the magician continued. 

"Second, the perverse way. This was prevalent in the [Golden Laws Era]. To awaken a person, you need to literally torture him/her… well, maybe torture isn't the right word. I don't know about it much but essentially, you were hit on some specific spots after a time interval every time. Data suggests that people using this way unleash about 37-40%  of the total potential.

"Third, scripture training. Throughout the three Chaotic Ages, this was the only method available to the people. This method requires a person to follow a scripture from childhood and after they complete comprehending the entire scripture, he/she becomes <<Awakened>> unleashing 20-25% of the total potential. They are not in great use today, mainly because most of the scriptures are lost.

"Now, you might ask why I'm explaining all this basic stuff. This is because all of you have been recently <<Awakened>> and are trying to reach the threshold for Bronze. After that, you would be eligible to go through <<Second Awakening>>, right? So, can anyone tell me the threshold?" 

"20 POW. G.C. doesn't matter." Koshikawa immediately answered.

The magician nodded. "Indeed. To reach the Bronze rank, you need to have 20 POW and could you tell me how fast POW increases?"

"Not more than two, under normal conditions. There is no talent involved. No matter how hard one practices, it's impossible to increase his/her POW by three in a single year." Koshikawa's answer made the first-year students shocked. They came to the expectation to get strong quickly and only now did they find out the truth. The second-year students, Aya and Sakai, were much calmer.

"This means… I would take more than six years to reach Bronze?" Koyami muttered with a devastated look. He had the lowest POW in the group - 7. According to simple math, he would need more than five years (which is the allotted time given to him by the academy). "Wait, if that's the case, wouldn't many students fail to graduate?"

Koshikawa chuckled. "What are you talking about? Just because students can't reach Bronze within five years doesn't mean that they can't graduate. They just won't be recommended by the academy. Those who didn't reach Bronze could stay in the academy and perfectly graduate. Urgh, why am I talking as if the academy is still existing?"

Imada and the others nodded in understanding.

The magician coughed. "Coming back to the point, I'll go on to the next step. Tell me your G.C. and POW. I'll start off by telling mine. Look carefully…" He folded his sleeve and took out his handkerchief from his side pocket, then stretched it using his two hands.

He jerked the handkerchief for the first time softly. The next time, he jerked it fully and suddenly the delicate white handkerchief became a paper. "Now if I flip it…" There were several words written on it.

---

POW: 29

G.C.: 12

---

The magician shrugged. "This is my status currently. Do note that I went through the <<Second Awakening>> and this is considered a rather low stat."

*Clap*

*Clap*

*Clap*

The others dryly clapped.

Imada stood up. "I'm going first. My POW is 10. As for my G.C., it's 6."

Koshikawa: "POW 15. G.C. 5."

Sakai: "POW 10. G.C. 5."

Aya: "POW 9. G.C. 5."

Asuka: "POW 9. G.C. 8."

Koyami: "POW 7. G.C. 4."

After listening to everyone, the magician took out a pen from his pocket and wrote down the numbers.