Chapter 15: Coming Clean

“What do you mean? How did you get an Awakening stone if you’ve never been to school?” Gloria blurted whatever came to her mind first.

Logically, only an aspirant who passed the graduation test could get a hold of the Awakening stone. It had been the law since the inception of the base camps two decades ago. While Awakening stone wasn’t that short in supply, there were just too many humans who wanted to become [Players]. Natural awakening couldn’t be trusted, given its random nature. The leaders of various base camps had unanimously decided on having strict regulations on this miraculous item.

But that didn’t mean there was no way for common people to get hold of one of these awakening stones. The black markets sell these commodities at a higher price. Similarly, having a good relationship with an influential person from the base camp can also be a viable option.

If Gloria would stop and think about it for a second, she could most probably guess from where Teo got his stone. However, at the moment, she was way too agitated to think straight. Her IQ had taken the backseat for the time being.

Teo exhaled a long breath. He wanted to hide his origins as long as possible, but Gloria didn’t deserve a lie. Besides, sooner or later, she would connect the dots herself. It would cause more awkwardness between them.

Instead, he chose to admit everything. “I know a person who got me one.”

Thinking of Gunt, he melancholily recalled the grumpy face of the man who was his mentor for a few years. Everything he knew about survival in the society dominated by [Players] was taught by him. The man had taken the role of a kind uncle in his life. I hope he is doing fine. Geezer, stay out of trouble until I return.

Teo wasn’t a fool who wouldn’t recognize the risk that Gunt had taken. He was only the owner of a low-grade item shop. The things he had for sale on his shelves were only useful to those daring scavengers. [Players] won’t even spare his shop a glance, let alone be a customer. How could someone like him get his hands on a stone? He even sold him at a market price—a market that is not accessible to non [Players].

Teo always knew of the risks involved when Gunt claimed he could get him a stone. Persuading the man against his idea should have been what he had done; yet Teo couldn’t resist the temptation of being a [Player].

“Ah, I see.” Gloria’s voice brought him back from his guilt-filled memory lane. Teo pushed the matter concerning Gunt to the back of his head and focussed on his teammate. She seemed like she had more to say.

A brief pause followed before she talked again, “You are pretty well connected since you can afford one of those keys. Though I take it that you don’t know the basics of a dungeon, right?”

“Nope.” Teo shook his head, the only part that was left alone by the paralysis.

“Good lord. So much work for me, ugh!” Gloria groaned, covering her face with her hands. She had started doubting the prospect of teaming up with Teo.

A bit later, her tone took a stiffer note as she continued her speech. “Alright, listen, I’m going to cram in three years worth of knowledge in a few minutes into your head. Try to remember as much as you can.” She demanded, her body language taking a stern approach.

“Eh?” Teo responded, stunned. Even though she looked dismayed, Gloria seemed okay with what he revealed. She didn’t press for an explanation, nor did she break the agreement between them. She was even willing to waste her valuable teaching him the basics.

“You… me… are you alright with me? Does it not bother you that I am only a D-grade citizen? That I have never gone to school?” Teo’s lower lips trembled, and his vision swam. His eyes moistened as tears threatened to come out. Gloria’s kindness touched the deepest corner of his heart. “Dammit!” He mumbled under his breath, hiding his face in his arms as unexpected tears flew out.

“I don’t care about those. Hey, are you crying? A grown-up man crying like a child!” Gloria giggled as she poked fun at him.

“I’m not crying. Some dust just got into my eyes. Dammit, it’s such an unclean place.” Teo’s weak protest only served to make Gloria giggle more.

XXX

Five minutes quickly came to an end amidst Gloria’s giggles and Teo’s embarrassment.

After the paralysis wore off, feelings returned to his limbs. His motor nerves reconnected with his brain and signals flowed to and from smoothly. However, it brought about a great many changes which Teo noticed right away. For one, his sensitivity had improved to an extent. He could now feel the humidity in the air more prominently, which had gone unnoticed until now.

Teo rolled to his back and got up. His back made some satisfying popping sounds as his joints fell back to shape. It had been a long twenty minutes. He clenched his fingers, forming a tight fist—another series of popping sounds followed his flex.

Teo could feel an explosive amount of strength hiding underneath his skin, waiting for him to unleash them on a target. It might be his hallucination, but Teo believed he could now punch a hole in a thick concrete wall if he tried hard enough—which got him confused because there was no change to the units of his STR attribute. Does this numerical value doesn’t reflect my true strength? He wondered.

Midst this, Teo noticed another piece of great news. His WIL attribute had returned to full, displaying a full sixty-five points. His face lit up like a Christmas tree as it had been weighing on his heart for a while now. He feared that he had lost those hard-earned points forever.

“You are back to normal, huh?” Gloria asked as she observed Teo doing various stretching exercises. She would wince every time his body made an audible pop. Her skin crawled from the cringy sound.

“Mhmm. I feel great.” Teo mumbled, rotating from his waist and making more pops in the process. His body accumulated a lot of kinks in these few minutes of paralysis—there seemed to be no end to his stiff joints that needed relaxation.

“Would you stop that? It’s annoying.” Gloria, who couldn’t take it anymore, voiced her protest. Her narrowed eyes and twitching brows showed off her displeasure towards Teo’s what she deemed as impolite actions.

“Stop what?” Teo grinned, showing off his rows of pearl whites. “This?” He clenched his left-hand fist and made another round of cringe-worthy sounds. This time, the sound lacked the volume it had when he did the same thing with his other hand.

“Eeek!! Stop it! NOW!!” Gloria shivered as the sound brought goosebumps to her arms. She reached for her gun and pointed its barrel straight at his face. “Do it again. I dare you.”

Teo’s eyes switched from the gun’s barrel to Gloria’s face. Her eyes glowed with seriousness, overshadowing her annoyance. Teo discreetly glanced at her finger—it was firmly resting on the trigger. Would she pull the trigger if I did it again?

Teo pulled his hands up and gently pushed the gun’s barrel out of his face. He didn’t want to find out whether she would really do it or not. Some answers are better left unknown.

“Hmph!” Gloria snorted at him before she repositioned the gun to where it belonged. The lopsided grin on her face rubbed Teo the wrong way, however. He barely resisted the urge to pop a joint, consequence be damned.