Chapter 7: Awakening (Again)

Earlier on the way here, Luo Yan had already checked the panels for the mirror and lipstick, so now he only gave them a brief glance.

It was worth noting that in the “Starter Kit” Nico provided, both the tight combat suit and the handgun were C-grade, while the lipstick and mirror were B-grade.

Considering the twin-tailed loli’s general unreliability, Luo Yan was honestly too tired to even complain.

Taking a deep breath, he held it and listened intently for any sounds inside the cave. After confirming there were no signs of life, he turned on the mirror’s light function.

The cave wasn’t very deep—maybe ten meters at most—and was completely empty, with no signs that anything had ever lived there.

Seeing this, Luo Yan finally let out a sigh of relief.

“Thankfully, I didn’t stumble into a monster den.”

After a thorough inspection confirmed it could serve as a temporary safehouse, Luo Yan leaned gently against a relatively smooth stone wall and reopened his system panel.

He remembered that he still had 200 photon units left—and now was the perfect time to think about how to allocate them.

[Level: Aberrant]
[Next Stage: 0/200]
[Photon Count: 200]

Beneath the dim energy star was a skill tree made of diamond-shaped nodes, each representing a skill. These were interconnected with glowing purple lines, resembling a constellation map.

[Current Skills: Combat Instinct (Lv1), Weapon Mastery (Lv1), Language Proficiency (Lv1), Vocal Talent (Lv1), Dance Talent (Lv1)…]

Through this tree, Luo Yan could clearly see all the skills he currently possessed. At the moment, only five diamonds were in an “unlocked” state—brightly lit—while the rest remained gray and “locked.”

The skill types ranged from combat-oriented to sub-professional and lifestyle-based—it had a bit of everything.

“Wow, ‘I’ really have a wide skill set… but they’re all just Level 1.”

Luo Yan had expected “her” body to be highly talented, but even so, the sheer variety of unlocked skills surprised him. Any skill the body had retained showed up as a lit diamond, and looking at the current star map, it practically resembled a constellation.

Though the lights weren’t blinding, it still looked impressive to Luo Yan. In other words, this was a very cost-effective “starter account.”

As a proud freeloading expert, Luo Yan was more than satisfied.

His only concern now was what to do if that so-called “master” the twin-tailed loli mentioned ever showed up. But right now, the most important thing was surviving in this world.

“Even though I haven’t run into danger yet, based on the system’s mention of levels, this world definitely has supernatural elements. My top priority should be boosting survivability—either by enhancing Combat Instinct and Weapon Mastery or just leveling up.”

“Language Proficiency is probably important too. I can communicate with the twin-tailed loli just fine, but that doesn’t guarantee I’ll be able to speak with whatever civilization I encounter next…

Dance Talent and Vocal Talent sound more suited for the idol path.

With this body’s face and figure, that’s not totally out of the question—but who knows if this world even has a media industry, let alone one that supports idols.

Besides, being an idol in a dangerous world like this might come with… fatal occupational hazards.”

After studying the panel for a while, Luo Yan ultimately decided to focus on improving his combat power.

Language barriers could be solved later. When your strength is high enough, “physical communication” tends to be the most effective method.

With that in mind, two key questions remained:

Should he prioritize leveling up, or enhancing specific combat skills?

“Let’s test what happens when I level up first.”

Luo Yan channeled his photons and injected them into the energy star.

As the photons flowed in, the dim star began to flicker faintly with light. At the same time, Luo Yan could feel a strange new power stirring—mysterious energy flowing into his body and awakening dormant potential.

“10/200…”
“50/200…”
“120/200…”

Aside from the progress bar visibly increasing, he also discovered something fascinating:

He could reclaim any injected photons without penalty, simply through willpower—or he could choose to absorb them and convert them into real power.

In short, during the photon injection process, he had access to a kind of “undo” or “confirm” function. And the physical feedback he felt during injection served as a preview of the effects.

“This system’s actually really user-friendly…”

Luo Yan was delighted by the discovery.

It reminded him of those web novels he used to read, where the system acted as a cheat tool. Compared to those, this system wasn’t particularly overpowered—but it felt very thoughtfully designed, like a high-quality product focused on user experience.

With the ability to preview outcomes, point allocation became much more flexible.

After several test runs, Luo Yan confirmed what his 200 photon units could do:

If he funneled them all into the star, the orb would glow pale blue, and his level would increase from [Aberrant] to [Awakened].

If he used them to enhance skills instead, he could raise two Level 1 skills to Level 2.

After weighing the options, Luo Yan chose to use all 200 photons to level up.

Skills were important, sure—but from his gaming experience, rushing to level up in the early game often yielded more benefits than carefully hoarding skill points.

With his decision made, Luo Yan injected the full 200 photons into the energy star.

As waves of never-before-felt power surged through him, he whispered in his heart:

“Confirm.”

The illusory “Awakened” text next to him level solidified in that instant.

At the same time, the overwhelming energy coursing through his body no longer felt distant or ghostly—it was tangible now. Real.

[Level: Awakened]
[Next Stage: 0/500]
[Photon Count: 0]
[Current Skills: Combat Instinct (Lv1), Weapon Mastery (Lv1), Language Proficiency (Lv1), Vocal Talent (Lv1), Dance Talent (Lv1)…]

Now there was one last thing to determine:

Exactly how strong was he now?

Back when he was still in the Aberrant stage, his physique had already far surpassed his former self—but it was still within human limits.

Now, after advancing to Awakened, he could feel he’d broken through to an entirely new tier.

It was time to run some diagnostics.

Know thyself.
That’s the best way to avoid getting wrecked when danger strikes.

Raising an eyebrow slightly, Luo Yan murmured,
“Let’s find out what an Awakened body can do.”

He stepped outside. The sun was still high in the sky—the upgrade hadn’t taken long.

So far, it seemed Nico had chosen the transfer point carefully. This was likely a deserted or abandoned area, making it ideal for testing.

Still, he couldn’t afford to get careless. All tests needed to stay confined to a small area, and noise had to be kept to a minimum.

Speed and strength.
Those were the two traits he was most eager to test.

Beyond the attribute panel, the system also came with functions like assistive aiming, route planning, and data collection and analysis—perfect tools for today’s trial.

***

One hour later.

“100-meter sprint, average time: 4.5 seconds. Sample size: 20 runs.
No obvious fatigue or performance drop.”

Luo Yan reviewed the system’s statistical data, murmuring,

“My top speed’s over 20 meters per second… If I remember right, the world record in my previous life was over 9.5 seconds. I’ve basically shattered the human limit by a huge margin. If I went back to Earth and entered a race now, I’d probably send half the audience into an existential crisis. And what’s worse… I’m running this fast while rocking a G-cup.”

Even Luo Yan himself hadn’t expected that, despite carrying a pair of absurdly weighty “ultimate weapons,” he could still move with such light, effortless grace. There wasn’t even the slightest hint of the bouncy spectacle he’d imagined.

Part of that, he realized, came from the body’s innate combat instinct, which adjusted his form automatically as needed.

The other part was thanks to the combat suit Nico had given him—clearly custom-designed to fit this body, optimized for movement and support.

“As for strength…”

“I can crush hard river pebbles with my bare hands. If I use actual combat techniques, I should be even stronger. In fact, my offensive capabilities might’ve surpassed even my speed.”

All in all, after entering the Awakened stage, he could no longer be classified as a normal human.

His already-sharp senses had also gotten a noticeable boost from the awakening.

“Yup, prioritizing a level-up was definitely the right call.”

Luo Yan was very satisfied with the results.

Even though he hadn’t seen another living soul yet and had no baseline for comparison, at least now he had much better odds of survival than he did back at the Aberrant stage.

Now that the upgrade was complete, it was time to consider his next move.

Luo Yan glanced up at the sun, now hanging midway through the sky.

By his estimate, he had four or five hours until sunset.

Might as well climb to the mountaintop, survey the area, and plan his next destination while there’s still daylight.