Chapter Three: The Awakening
A faint voice pulled Quinn from the depths of sleep.
"Quinn?"
His body jerked slightly as he felt a hand on his shoulder, shaking him gently. His eyes fluttered open, and for a moment, he was disoriented—still lost in the lingering fragments of his dream.
A soft blue glow flickered at the edge of his vision, but he barely registered it before his sister's worried face filled his view.
She stood beside his bed, her brows furrowed in concern. "Are you okay? You were grunting in your sleep."
Quinn exhaled slowly, running a hand down his face. His body still felt tense, his muscles sore from last night's chase. "Yeah… I'm fine," he muttered.
His sister studied him for a second as if trying to decide whether to believe him. But instead of pushing, she just sighed.
"I'm off now. Take care of yourself, alright? And I made breakfast—make sure you eat."
Quinn sat up, rubbing his temples. "Got it."
She gave him a lingering look, then nodded and left the room. Moments later, he heard the apartment door close.
A heavy silence settled in.
It was Saturday. No school. His sister would be gone for most of the day, working her cashier job at a small store. That meant he had the apartment to himself.
Quinn flopped back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. His body still ached, and his mind was clouded with frustration.
Last night… he had lost the artifact. The biggest risk he had ever taken ended in failure. And now, the Black Hounds would be hunting for him.
"Shit… what do I do now?"
He groaned and sat up, but as he did, the blue flicker from before caught his attention again.
Ding.
A strange chime echoed in his head.
His vision blurred for a second, and suddenly—
A screen appeared before him.
A floating, glowing blue screen.
Quinn's breath hitched as he stared at it in shock.
[SYSTEM SUCCESSFULLY UPLOADED]
"What the hell…?"
The text on the screen flickered, and then more information appeared.
[PROFILE]
Name: Quinn Mercer
Ability: ???
HP: 500
Awakened Rank: S
[STATS]
Strength: S
Agility: S
Endurance: S
Intelligence: S
Mana: 0
[Skills: None]
Quinn's pulse thundered in his ears as he read through the information.
This… this had to be a dream.
He blinked hard, rubbed his eyes—hell, even slapped himself across the face. But the screen didn't disappear. It was still there.
Floating.
Glowing.
Real.
His heart pounded. What the actual fuck is this?!
An S-Rank Awakened? Him? That was impossible.
He had no power yesterday. No magic. No system. He was just a nobody, struggling to survive in the slums.
And yet—
The screen was still floating before him, its light casting an eerie glow over his dimly lit room.
His stomach twisted. Something was off.
His ability… was unknown.
"Why the hell is my ability just question marks?" he muttered.
It made no sense. Every Awakened had a defined ability. Fire manipulation, super strength, healing, something. But his was blank. As if the system itself didn't know what he could do.
And then there was his mana.
[Mana: 0]
His jaw clenched.
Despite being S-Rank, he had no mana. None at all.
He had heard of Awakened Ones with low mana reserves, but zero? That was unheard of.
Was he defective? Some kind of failure?
Before he could dwell on it further—
Ding!
Another notification popped up.
[NEW QUEST]
Objective: Kill a Possessed
Reward: Mana increases based on the rank of the possessed
Quinn froze.
His throat went dry.
A quest… to kill a Possessed?
The mere thought sent a chill down his spine. Those things weren't just criminals or thugs—they were monsters.
People who had succumbed to demonic corruption. Twisted beyond recognition. They were fast, brutal, and nearly impossible to kill without proper training.
And the system wanted him to take one down?
His fingers curled into fists.
"This… this is insane."
But at the same time…
If the reward was real, if killing a Possessed could actually increase his mana, then this system wasn't just messing with him. It was giving him a path forward.
A way to become stronger.
His heartbeat steadied. The fear was still there, clawing at the edges of his mind, but beneath it—
There was something else. Something new. Excitement.
Quinn exhaled sharply, trying to steady his nerves. He needed to clear his head.
Standing in the middle of his room in just his sweatpants, he quickly threw on a black hoodie and a pair of worn-out sneakers. He pulled the hood up, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he headed for the door.
If he was going to kill a Possessed, he needed to figure out where to find one.
They appeared regularly in the lower districts, where security was weak, and people were desperate. The Awakened patrolled these areas, handling any outbreaks when they happened. But Quinn didn't have the luxury of waiting for one to show up randomly.
He needed to hunt one down.
The city streets were lively as he walked, blending into the crowd. The sun hung low in the sky, casting long shadows across the cracked pavement. Even in the daylight, the city carried a sense of unease. People walked quickly, avoiding eye contact. Stray posters of missing persons clung to walls, their edges curled and worn by time.
Quinn moved through the streets, keeping his head down, and scanning his surroundings.
"Where the hell do I even start?"
Possessed wasn't something you just ran into unless you were unlucky. They didn't wander around like drunks in alleyways.
They hunted.
And they were smart enough to hide.
After forty minutes of walking aimlessly, he pulled out his phone and checked the time. Frustration crept in. This was pointless. What was he even thinking? Just because he had a system now didn't mean—
Then, he heard it.
A faint, wet, tearing sound.
Followed by a whimper.
Quinn stopped.
His head snapped toward a nearby alleyway, where the sound was coming from.
His stomach churned as he stepped closer and peered inside.
A man crouched over a lifeless woman. Blood soaked the pavement beneath them. The man's back was hunched, his body twitching unnaturally as he tore chunks of flesh from the woman's arm with his teeth.
Quinn's breath caught in his throat.
The rumors were true.
He had heard whispers of it—how Possessed feasted on human flesh after transforming. But seeing it…
Seeing it with his own eyes was something else entirely.
The man—no, the Possessed suddenly stopped eating.
Slowly, its head turned, locking eyes with Quinn.
For a moment, there was silence. Then—
The Possessed stood up, licking the blood from its lips. Its eyes gleamed with an unnatural hunger, its body twitching violently.
"You…" the man rasped, its voice distorted, inhuman. "You will look quite tasty."
Ding!
A system notification flashed before Quinn.
[C-Rank Possessed Detected]
His blood ran cold.
He had found one.
Or rather—
One had found him.