The Passive Skill Collector

"Do you wish to proceed to the stats tab?" - Yes/No

As he clicked "yes", the smaller notification vanished and a large interface appeared before him. The system showed a simple design of a blue transparent color, with a lighter-colored frame outlining the prompt.

He examined the upper row of tabs, that was connected above the interface, which currently displayed:

- Stats

- Inventory

- Tasks

Having stats and inventory tabs was standard for every Awakened. However, what stood out was the presence of a "Tasks" folder. Additionally, three extra tabs were locked right beside the "tasks" box.

After clicking on one of the locked tabs, out of sheer curiosity, a message prompt appeared, presenting something even more concerning to Lu Jae-sung. His mind raced with questions, as he tried to get the gist out of it.

"Conditions have not been met yet." - Storno

As he was about to press the button to read his statistics, the door to the patient room slowly opened, pulling his attention away, and causing the two overlapping interfaces to vanish.

When the nurse entered the room, she seemed speechless, covering her mouth with her small hands in disbelief. She quickly rushed out, leaving behind a faint voice that seemed to be calling for an available doctor.

Lu Jae-sung lay on the hospital bed, gazing at the wide-opened doors, overwhelmed by a feeling of stupefaction.

"Was I in such a horrifying state, that the nurse reacted like this?" He questioned himself as anxiety slowly surged within him.

Before the doctor arrived, he examined the room in the meantime. The room was quite small, leaving space for four hospital beds, including the one he lay on. A huge window enlightened the room with sunlight, leaving the room fully lit during the day.

There were also a few examination machines ready for use when needed, with additional drippers beside them.

Suddenly, wild stomping could be heard from the direction of the doors leading to the connected corridor.

A skinny doctor with white hair and a beard rushed in, followed by the small, gentle-looking nurse. They closed the distance to Lu Jae-sung quickly. The doctor pulled out his stethoscope and leaned even closer to him to examine him properly.

After ensuring that Lu Jae-sung's heartbeat and breathing were in a healthy state, he pulled out a tongue depressor. He waited for Lu Jae-sung to open his mouth so he could check the inside of his mouth and throat.

After a thorough inspection, he took a deep breath and ensured Lu Jae-sung that he was probably fine.

"Do you feel any pain or irregularity in your body?" the doctor asked, wanting to ensure he was truly in good health.

He paused for a second to think about it. He then clenched his fists and moved his legs slightly, but couldn't feel any pain or disrupted feelings in his body parts. Even his headache diminished to a bearable state.

Lu Jae-sung simply shook his head, signaling a lack of pain. The doctor took a breather before speaking again.

"Well, even if you feel all right, we still need to proceed with a few steps of analysis to ensure everything is fine. We will proceed immediately since you were left unconscious here for a whole day." the doctor explained.

Lu Jae-sung opened his mouth slightly in disbelief, staring at the doctor for at least a minute. He finally decided to get out of bed and continued to follow him through a dozen evaluations.

Once he completed the test, he felt relief overflow within him. He was finally ready to leave the hospital. However, before heading out, he stopped at the huge reception area which was filled with rows of chairs. There wasn't a single person present during the Sunday afternoon. Only emergencies would be accepted on this day and time.

When he stepped by the only reception, with a staff member staring at the glowing monitor, he went ahead and began speaking.

"Good day to you sir. I have a question. Could you connect me with my family? I didn't buy a mobile phone yet, so I can't contact them myself," Lu Jae-sung stated to the receptionist, showing he was in a seemingly tight spot while trying to evoke sympathy in the receptionist's heart.

"And who do you want me to call?" the receptionist was annoyed, his impression being as dead as a motionless corpse.

Lu Jae-sung slid a golden card across the counter with a confident smile, not minding the guy's rude attitude since he could guess his type of work was somewhat tiring.

The receptionist shot up from his chair as he recognized the logo of one of the capital's most popular high-rise complexes. The receptionist noticed a small imprint of "Bu" and dialed the household's landline.

After a short wait, the line seemed to connect successfully, and a weary voice could be heard from the phone.

"Hello, Bu Bujeo speaking," the words slowly came through the receiver.

"Good afternoon, dear father. You have probably received some news about my Awakening. Could you please send a chauffeur to the hospital where I am currently situated? It would be a great help from my kind father," said Lu Jae-sung with a bitter taste on his tongue and some irony in his voice.

He felt increasingly disgusted with himself for having to act so politely.

"Who could be grateful to such a jerk every single time?" he thought, waiting for his stepfather's response, still feeling slightly disdainful. Even if he barely knew him, he hated him with all his feelings.

Nothing was coming from the receiver, but after a moment, his voice broke through the silent atmosphere.

"He will arrive in ten minutes. Wait for him outside so he can pick you up after arrival. Also, when you get home, we need to discuss the mess at the Awakening Association,"

he hung up, and the sound of the phone slamming down could be heard.

The sudden sound was loud and startled both Lu Jae-sung and the receptionist. Even if he wasn't the one closer to the receiver, he still slightly jumped out of his seat.

Lu Jae-sung handed the receiver back to the receptionist and headed out the automatic doors on the opposite side of the reception.

As he waited for "his" chauffeur, he tried to bring up the interface. Opening the prompt required a lot of focus. As he had left them, the boxes seemed to stay, so he proceeded to press "Storno."

The system redirected him to the "statistics" tab, and he navigated through every piece of information.

The first thing that caught his attention, was a simplified picture of his body with internals. As he proceeded to check it up, he saw that the "brain" symbol glowed with a yellow light.

"That probably shows what state I am in," He could still feel a slight headache from when he woke up.

He then clicked on the shining brain symbol, and the status displayed a simple, yet alarming "Mild."

He also noticed a button labeled "Legend." He decided to press it, hoping to get some more information about the phases of status.

Another smaller interface appeared on top of the larger one. It displayed 5 phases of injury severity.

Critical: Serious damage that can threaten life. Needs immediate help. (Black)

Severe: Major injuries that require quick medical attention. (Red)

Moderate: Noticeable injuries that should be treated to avoid problems. (Orange)

Mild: Minor issues that usually heal on their own. (Yellow)

Stable: No injuries; everything is functioning well. (White)

This entire section was unheard of within Awakeners. There was no way to examine your body just by interacting with the statistics menu. This could be handy for many awakeners, to comprehend their limits.

There were also some empty boxes below the picture, but there was no explanation for them, feeling a bit puzzled by them.

After checking his vitals, he went on looking through his stats.

- Lvl 1 (0/100 XP) 

- 96/100 HP

- 1/1 MP

- 4/100 Exhaustion

The first three stats seemed to show his condition. Lu Jae-sung already heard about some of the capabilities of the Leveling Up system, so this was nothing new to him.

He then shifted his focus to another part of the interface. Next to his condition status were attributes that were predefined based on his physique. This meant an Awakener could benefit more from being fit, before trying to Awaken.

Basic Stats:

- Strength: 5

- Endurance: 3

- Intelligence: 6

- Mana: 1

- Dexterity: 2

- Agility: 4

Special Stats:

- LOCKED -

- LOCKED -

Interestingly enough, even this column had two locked stats, leaving Lu Jae-sung speechless."There are even more locks in my system? How am I supposed to know how to unlock them all?" he wondered while staring at the locks in the interface.

Despite his curiosity about unlocking the stats, he still had more to observe down the list. Thus, he swept his gaze away from them, looking more to the bottom of the list.

That's when he noticed the most interesting section out of all the above:

Special Abilities:

- The Passive Skill Collector - Transcendent

- LOCKED -

After reading this section, his jaw dropped quickly, almost dislocating itself, leaving him stunned in place for what felt like four whole minutes. He just stared at the word "transcendent" trying to free himself out of this dream. Yet, it wasn't anything surreal, even if it felt like it.

"Is that even possible? Is this some stupid prank?" his thoughts were an utter mess. He couldn't believe his own eyes, as confusion spiraled within him.

He recalled stories about people acquiring "Transcendent" items, which was the highest known grade potentially being the last rarity in existence. What baffled him was that the highest-ranking Special Ability ever recognized was "Celestial." This meant two things.

Firstly, his Special Ability had skipped above the publicly recognized strongest Special Ability by three ranks. Secondly, he might be the only one with a transcendent Special Ability, which meant his potential was the greatest of all Awakeners.

"But why doesn't it say how to use my special ability? What does collecting the passive skills even mean?" yet again he felt puzzled, trying to find a way to unravel this mystery. He started to squeeze his head out of sheer frustration. After all the excessive thinking, his headache surged slightly.

*beep* *beep*

A notification sound came from the system and a new prompt appeared on the interface.

"Condition has been met. A new passive skill was created. The Passive Skills folder is now unlocked. Do you wish to open it now?" - Yes/No