Chương 72: Awakener Training Area

Luna is quite like me in some regards—when we think of something to do, we try to get it done as soon as possible. After she mentioned going to the awakener training building, also known as an AT Room, she immediately got dressed in her familiar workout attire. While she did that, I was searching through my closet. To be honest, I have bought sportswear before. I've just never worn it. I mean! Who can blame me! If I wear sportswear that means I have to workout! And why in the seven seas would I do that!

Getting sweaty makes me feel yucky. And! I'm an alchemist, I have no need to workout! Hmph! But, inevitably, I did find an attire: black leggings, sports bra and a crop top. Thinking about it, mine and Luna's outfit look quite similar. That's probably natural though, there's only a limited type of clothes that feel comfortable to workout in. I wonder if Luna's wearing items though? What benefits would that bring? [Sweatless]? [Temperature Control]?

I should look through clothes made from a tailor class sometime soon. After getting dressed, I found Luna waiting by the door with her shoes already on. She checked me over once with a scrutinizing gaze before nodding with smile,"Good." She said.

"Hm?" I tilted my head.

"You're wearing a proper outfit. If you were wearing loose-fitting clothes or something ill-fit for working out, I'd have had to pick out your outfit myself."

"I'm not that dull!" I retorted. Even I know that you can't just throw on random clothes when you go to exercise!

"Hm…Should I remind you what your outfit is when you enter the tower?"

"Ah…Well!" I stammered, "That's because my goal was aesthetic! They at least reach the minimum functionality!"

"Aesthetic? In the tower?" She repeated. Ah, she just doesn't understand my plight…

"Hmph!" I crossed my arms. That was one bottom line I wouldn't compromise on.

"Functionality does not dwarf aesthetics! There's a minimal level of aesthetic I need in my clothes, no matter how good it works!"

"Haah…You're hopeless." Luna sighed with a shake of the head, "But, I understand. You wouldn't be you if you were careful."

"Heh," I snorted, "I'm one of a kind."

"One of a kind, you are…" She mumbled as I put on my shoes and we left the house. … In the car, I sat shotgun aptly fulfilling my music duty.

"This is my first time visiting a building made for awakeners I'm kind of excited." I commented.

"Hm…We're not going to an official government-run one, but a branch of a popular awakener-run one. So, it's not going to be top-of-the-line, but, it's still going to be nice and high-tech." Luna said, "If we were going to the government-ran one, you'd have no choice but to show an awakener's card even if you were my plus one."

"Got it~ I'm still excited though! This AT room will have all that expensive equipment though, right? Like those mana manipulation machines I saw on the exchange? And the what-not."

"Yep, it should be fully fit to train an awakener from noob to standard. It's similar to a gym—it has all the equipment and you can hire private trainers, you just need to put in the work yourself."

"Mm," I nodded, "Do many people also make New Years plans to put in the effort and become a respectable awakener?"

"Haha…Yeah, there's a ton of people who aim to be the next top-tier ranker. When we go inside, you'll probably see a lot of people pushing their limits." Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

"I see, I see. I bet they'd never expect the greatest(cutest) alchemist and next production-class ranker to be in their vicinity!"

"Certainly not." Luna readily agreed with my words, "Do you think they're already there? Do you want to meet them? I'd like to meet them, maybe they'd give me a discount on potions if I ask nicely."

"Huh?" I tilted my head and then it clicked, "You!" I glared at her, "It's me! I'm the world-famous alchemist and the projected next production-class ranker!" I shamelessly spouted.

"Huh? What? No way, you're joking." Luna teasingly said with a shake of the head.

"Hmph!" I crossed my arms, "Your potion prices have now doubled!"

"Heh," Luna softly chuckled with a smile, "Doubled from free, huh." She mumbled under her breath. We continued to banter before eventually pulling into a parking lot. We parked in a spot close to the building, which, completely surprised me. And not in the 'Oh my God! It's so beautiful and magnificent' but in the 'Oh, it looks just like a regular building' kind of way. That's right, this AT room didn't look special at all from the outside. In fact, it just looked like an expensive gym.

Except with one minor difference… It was huge! It looked even bigger than a grocery store. Even the Publix by my house isn't as big as this!

"Come on," Luna said, "Let's head in." I blankly nodded and followed her inside, observing the interior like I was some country-folk entering the big city for the first time. A cold blast of air hit me immediately. Just ahead were a few receptionists sitting behind a desk. When we entered, one of them immediately stood up and greeted us.

"Good evening." She said as we approached.

"Hello," Luna handed the receptionist her awakener's card, "My friend was curious about how awakener's train and workout, so I'm mainly showing her around."

"I see." The receptionist lady nodded, "Hello, miss, so, you're curious about awakeners? This is a great place to learn, especially if you follow your friend around," She said with a smile, "Are you an awakener yourself? Or are you going to become one soon?" She asked. In the car, Luna had told me to avoid lies as much as possible around awakeners, since you never know if they could have a skill that can detect them.

Though, it's quite unlikely; Only special classes have lie detection skills, like a detective or justice-orientated classes. But, you never know.

"Hi!" I cheerfully said, "I'm very curious about awakeners! I've seen this girl workout for hours straight without breaking a sweat! I didn't think that was even possible! I'd show you a card if I could. Hopefully I get one someday." I said with hope etched in my voice.

"I understand." The receptionist nodded, "I hope you become an awakener someday. Alright, both of you just sign your names and you're free to go in." She pushed a clipboard towards us. I simply signed 'Stella' and Luna signed her own name. There was no need to sign my last name, even if I did so, they wouldn't be able to find me. After signing, Luna headed deeper inside and I followed. It was like a communal gym; Regular workout equipment scattered the floors and people were using them.

There was music playing in the background, but I didn't recognize the artist. Huh? Why do I see that guy curling 100 pounds easily? What? Is that girl an olympic sprinter or something? Why is she running so fast? Did I just see someone lift nearly a ton?

"This is the common area, nothing fancy goes on here. You could see this scene in just about any ordinary gym." Luna explained. Um…Excuse me? Ms. Luna, I don't think that's true.

"There's multiple sections in this building. They're separated by what you want to focus on. Since we're looking to train your mana, we'll be using that room over there." She said, pointing at our destination. We entered a room that had a completely different vibe than the communal gym. Inside of here, there were plenty of people but it was quieter and more focused. Everyone was sitting down in front of machines.

Some people were cross-legged, others were sitting on their knees, and a few people were even laying down.

"Mana training isn't as intensive as the other types, but it's one of the most important for any class." Luna explained, leading me to a machine with no user.

"This machine is called a 'Mana Strengthening Machine', I think this one is a B-grade, so, it'll be useful until B grade."

"What do you mean?" I asked, "B grade? Is our mana graded somewhere?" I pulled up the system but I couldn't find that anywhere.

"Not in the system, you wouldn't know since you're not registered and you clearly forsake researching common knowledge for awakeners. But the awakener's association has classified these things such as 'Mana Manipulation', 'Mana Strength', 'Mana Purity', and the what-not into grades similar to ones you see on items or in school. You'd be considered to have C grade mana manipulation, and F grade mana strength. I can't tell your purity from sight alone, we'd have to use a machine for that."

"I see. I see." I nodded, "What about you?" I asked.

"I'm considered to have B- grade manipulation, C+ grade strength, and B grade purity." She said, showing me her awakener's card. And lo' and behold, those exact classifications were written at the bottom of her card. There were a few more too, like mental resistance, strength, agility, and some others.

"Some gates have minimum requirements to be met before you can enter them; Though, that's probably useless knowledge for you since you advertently avoid gates."

"Hehe, well, what would a pitiful and weak alchemist class like me have to do with gates? I'm a potion-maker not a fighter." I replied with a smile.

"…" She stared at me for a moment, "I'd believe that from any alchemist other than you."

"Hehe."

"Anyways, take a seat," She pointed at the ground, I obliged and sat criss-crossed, "Hold onto this part of the machine and follow the steps on screen."

"Got it~" I nodded. Holding some type of handle, I was reminded of the alchemy lab from the arcade. Is this going to be like that? That'd be fun. On the screen in front of me, it started saying some sort of introduction to the machine. Blah blah, strengthens mana, blah blah, you get the point. I completely zoned out until the screen started to show a 'Please imbue mana'. I perked up and started imbue my mana into the machine. When it told me to stop I did, and a 'Analyzing' appeared.

After a few moments, it read out the data.

'Mana Strength - F grade'"…" Just because Luna told me that I had weak mana strength, I don't need the machine to tell me too! Regardless of my feelings, the machine simply continued and told me the next step.

'Please draw your mana into the handle you're holding.' I listened. The handle was shaped to fit just a string of mana in it.

'Now, please maintain your mana without it breaking.' Huh? I was a little confused about what it meant by that, but my confusion was soon answered with a visualization on screen. There, it showed my string of mana holding up a weight in midair. The weight had '0' listed on it. This is quite easy…? Does this really train my mana? The number on the weight went up from 0 to 1 and my string of mana snapped immediately.

'You died!'

'Score - 0''Current Rating - God Awful; You suck!'

"…" I stared at the screen in disbelief.

'Try again?'

"I see…" I mumbled. So, that's how they get you. They motivate you with spite. Looking over at a man to my right, I could see his face had absolute determination and focus. His brows were furrowed and cold sweat dripped down his forehead. He must've gotten a bad rating. Taking a deep breath, I redrew a string of mana into the handle.

'Current Weight - 0' I pushed as much mana from my core as I could fit into that bit of string.

'Current Weight - 1' Yes! Easy! And just as the weight went from 1 to 2.

'You died!'

'Score - 1''Current Rating - Holy, you're so bad. Even a baby could do better!'

'Try again?' Okay, you bastard, let's see who wins.