CHAPTER 23: THE SYSTEM UNVEILED

[NOTE: Back to our normal 3rd person POV]

...

The forest had never felt so quiet.

They had left the tunnels behind, the air no longer burning with spores or resonant hums as they continued the journey west.

The Conductor’s broken body lay miles beneath them, entombed in its collapsed nest. For hours they had walked west, carrying nothing but exhaustion and the certainty that something fundamental had shifted.

By nightfall, they found a grove where the trees still grew green, untouched by fire or hive corruption. Reid gave the order, and the group dropped their packs like stones.

They had survived.

Jonas collapsed backward with a groan, arms sprawled like a man daring the sky to take him.

Kara sat cross-legged, sharpening her spear more out of habit than necessity. Holt leaned against a trunk, watching the perimeter with glassy eyes, while Mira tended to her own trembling hands with slow breaths.

Travis slumped by the fire pit, stirring the embers with a stick. "I still can’t get over the story that you guys told me".

"I mean, you all realize you just killed something that looked like it belonged in a goddamn nightmare zoo, right?" He smirked weakly. "Congratulations. Considering that I’m part of this group too, it’s more or less my achievement too".

He smiled mischievously. "I guess we’re officially overachievers."

No one answered. The silence in the air was heavy, but not from fear. Rather, it was more from awe.

Then it happened... an announcement.

The night suddenly split with soundless light, and then a shimmer passed over their vision, like a ripple across the surface of a pond.

Ethan flinched. The wheel burned in his vision, spinning so violently it felt like it might tear itself apart. Then words carved themselves across his mind.

DING!

~----~

[Milestone Achieved: 1st E-Rank Kill!]

[Congratulations! You defeated an E-Rank Hive Conductor!]

[Classification: Hive Coordinator]

[Congratulations, you have ranked up! You are now F-Rank!]

[You have unlocked your personal system stat panel:]

[Name: Ethan Cole]

[Rank: F Rank]

[Stats:]

Strength: 11

Agility: 12

Perception: 8

Stamina: 10

Vitality: 11

[Rift Energy: 50/50]

[NOTE: Rift Energy is the internal energy that all Awakeners have; this is the energy that Awakeners use to activate their special abilities.]

...

[Global Acknowledgement Registered... Awakener Rank Progression Triggered!]

~----~

’Huh?’ Ethan was confused.

The others gasped, hands flying to their temples. Reid stiffened, jaw clenched, while Kara blinked as though a window had opened in front of her. Jonas sat up, face pale, muttering, "What the hell...!"

Ethan’s eyes widened. ’They can see the system too?!’ He was surprised; he always thought the system was an application unique to his special ability, but maybe he was wrong all along.

Panels unfolded in the air before them, translucent and humming with dormant energy.

With an amazed but wary look on his face, Reid took a glance at the others to confirm that this weird situation was not unique to him before reading aloud, his voice measured.

["Congratulations, Awakener Advancement Achieved."]

["Rank F Attained. Stat Panel Unlocked."]

Kara’s eyes widened as she traced the words only she could see. "Rank... F?"

Mira didn’t receive the same message on the interface that opened before her, but her voice shook. "Yours says F Rank, but mine says Unranked," she looked at Kara. "That means... there are higher."

Jonas swore softly. "F Rank, E Rank, damn, we’ve been playing by rules we didn’t even know existed".

"If the Conductor was E-Rank, why did we not receive the ranks of the other monsters that we killed?" Suddenly thinking of something, he shivered. "Did we just kill an E Rank monster as Unranked Awakeners?"

Silence.

Reid eventually broke the silence after a few seconds. "Maybe we didn’t see the ranks of the other monsters because we didn’t fulfill the requirements of the system yet". He suggested in a low voice as they all looked at him.

And then, they compared quickly, voices hushed like they were handling sacred fire. Each of them, Ethan, Reid, Kara, and Jonas had advanced to Rank F, their first official rung on whatever ladder the apocalypse had forged.

Strength, agility, perception, stamina, and vitality, their stats gleamed on their panels, numbers beside them as tangible proof of growth.

Reid quickly did the math. "Those at the F Rank, most of our stats are above 10, while the others’ stats are all below 10".

"That means 10 is the divide between F Rank and Unranked," he clenched his fists. "I guess the difference between the mundane and the superhuman".

Jonas flexed his arm experimentally, grinning despite the bruise blooming on his jaw. "Feels the same... but at the same time it doesn’t. I feel stronger and sharper".

Travis stared at them all, then raised his hands. "And me? What do I get? Cook rank? Medic tier?"

Unlike them though, Travis was no Awakened. He didn’t have the grace of awakening an ability during the apocalypse like the rest of them.

No panel shimmered for him. The joke died on his tongue, bitterness creeping into his smile. He looked away, stabbing the stick deeper into the fire.

Ethan hadn’t moved since the changes appeared. The Wheel spun like a cyclone in his vision, symbols flaring, light crackling against his skull. Then it slowed, and the system spoke directly into him.

~----~

[Unique Improviser Contribution: Survival and decisive improvisations against a Coordinator Class threat recognized.]

[You have been rewarded with +7 Improvisation Points!]

~----~

Ethan felt his chest tighten. ’Damn, this is the most IP I’ve gotten in a single reward’. He pulled the numbers into view.

~----~

[Improvisation Points: 16]

~----~

Sixteen!

His hands trembled. For so long, he had scraped by on scraps, two points here, one there, earned by surviving nights he wasn’t sure he’d wake from. But now the wheel glowed like a storm, demanding he spend them.

The others were comparing stat panels, debating what Rank F meant, but Ethan’s world had narrowed to the Wheel. It pulsed with offers.

DING!