20 Chapter 20: Ambition

Real World, NQSC

Rake had last talked with the woman who was in charge of monitoring his medical and mental condition. Miss Ayna. 

He didn't know her full name nor did he ever ask. He had more things to worry about. 

Maybe he should've. After all, he was going to have to interact with her a lot. Having more knowledge of a person seems to be a good idea. 

'Hmm, I'll ask her next time. Or maybe it's not necessary. It's going to feel weird.'

[AN: Honestly I've forgotten whether I've mentioned it. Feels like I might've. I've completely forgotten about that. Honestly, it doesn't matter right now.]

**

Rake arrived at the awakened academy where he was supposed to meet the 'test subjects'. 

He was musing over the plan and thinking about whether his plan would succeed. It felt far-fetched to him. And probably anyone else. 

And his plan relied completely on his vague aspect. He had never expected that to be his aspect when he awakened. 

To be honest. He had a lot of other things in his mind at the time to be thinking about a vague aspect. 

Rake had a small sad smile on his face as he thought about the time from back then, It was truly a bad situation for him. 

At the time he had lost his mind. He lost almost all rationality. And no one can blame him. 

He had been in that hellhole being tortured and killed every day.

No matter how much you adapt or get used to pain, it doesn't hurt less. It only hurts differently. 

For example, people who have never experienced hunger and had to work to fill that hunger will never be able to feel hunger for food like those who have to work all day to fill their bellies. For a privileged person, it's just a strange feeling that you fix by eating something from the fridge. 

But that laborer with no money relies on that 'eating something from the fridge' to Survive. The stakes and associated feelings are completely different. 

This analogy may not be perfect, but it shows that the same feeling can elicit vastly different reactions and emotions. 

The same goes for Rake. 

Rake had accustomed to the pain. Mainly because it had no stake. Death was nothing to him. The pain was just something to endure, not overcome. 

But that changed when he awakened. He had lost something that he hadn't experienced for a long time. It was satisfaction and pleasure. Rake wasn't a war veteran in his previous life. Nor was he a hardened warrior. He was extremely privileged. He had everything to make him happy and lived a pretty cushy life filled with pleasures. 

He had gotten a taste of that when he ate the body of a version of him. For him, hunger used to be just a weird feeling you fix by 'eating something from the fridge'. 

Now, that was all he had. It was the only thing that could give him happiness and he was extremely addicted to it.

But the awakening changed everything. For him, it was a devastating accident, it took that small chunk of happiness away from him. If Rake knew, he would've never ended that trial and would've happily eaten a 'bite per loop'. He would've been so much happier. 

And he would've gladly stayed in that illusion and time loop forever.

**

Nightmare.

Rake was biting into his right hand. He tore through the flesh and muscles. He couldn't taste it anymore. 

He swallowed the meat. 

The pain was excruciating. But nothing he hadn't experienced before. No.

After eating his right hand's forearm, he proceeded to the left hand. 

He tore through it again. 

All that did was give him pain. He couldn't taste anything. 

He proceeded to his legs. The left one first. He started with the calf. It was extremely thick, with a lot of strong muscles and meat. 

Nothing. He tasted nothing. He only felt the texture. But otherwise, he tasted nothing. 

It was like chewing hard rubber. 

Rake's head was filled with nothing but pain, anguish, and regret. 

And constant screaming. 

"AAAAAAAA A AA AA A A A A AA A A AA A GGH HAHAHA HA AAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHHHAAAAAAA 

AAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

HA HA HA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHA AAGGAHHHHHAA AGGGHH AGGHHH

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGHHHHH H H '

*PANTING

AGGGHHHHH AGGGAHGGGA AGGGGAHHHH AAAAAAAAAAA"

Rake twitched uncontrollably and screamed in so much agony, pain, hunger and regret. He had reached a level of suffering that his mind stopped working. There was no difference between him and an animal. An animal that had suffered too much. 

His stomach hurt. The hunger wasn't anything he had ever felt before. 

His body was craving for something that it could no longer get. And no longer enjoy. 

And as Rake was maniacally hurting himself his runes had changed drastically. If only he could see them, he would realise why he can't taste anything anymore.

But alas, he was too far gone at the moment. 

**

Name: Rake

True Name: Shackled

Rank: Awakened

Class: Beast

Aspect Cores: [1/7]

Memories: Awakened: 5, Dormant: 100 

Echoes: 5

Aspect: [Enlightened]

Aspect Rank: Divine.

[Enlightened] Aspect Description:[You are enlightened about many things.]

Aspect ability:[Inheritance]

Ability description: [You can inherit aspects of monsters. The more cores you have the more you can inherit. 

Requirements: 1. You need to absorb a core of that monster.

2. Understand how that aspect uses essence.

3. You must immerse yourself in their mind and pass the trial without being corrupted or losing your mind. The difficulty of the trial depends on the current strength.]

Innate awakened ability: [Essence manager]

Ability Description: [You can absorb essence to fill your essence reserve at an extremely high rate. Some might think that you never run out of essence.]

Flaw: [Intoxicating]

Flaw description: [Your essence attracts all nightmares. Every time your essence escapes your body, it attracts all monsters that can sense it.]

Attributes: [Watched By Fate],[Talented],[Malleable Body], 

[Watched By Fate] Attribute Description:[Fate does not appreciate your existence since you are an anomaly. Yet, it is forced to help you. You have increased luck. Both good and bad. You have a higher rate of memory and echo attainment. But, Fate will always try to hurt you.]

[Talented] Attribute Description: [It is easier for you to learn and understand the essence of things]

[Malleable Body] Attribute Description: [Your body is highly adaptable to the many tortures it endures. Whatever doesn't kill it, only makes it stronger]

Inherited aspect: [Flowing]

Aspect description: [The water moves in ways unpredictable. Unless it's you. Water copies your flow and state of mind. However, every time you control it, you feel thirst and hunger.]

Inherited Flaw: [Unsatisfied]

Flaw description: [No matter what you eat and how much of it, you will never feel satisfied, nor will you be able to taste them.]

**

Real-world, NQSC Awakened Academy. 

A chamber located underground and protected by layers and layers of soil and metal walls. Overall a very protected place. 

"So, these are the test candidates," Rake remarked as he observed the 12 men and women in front of him. 

Three of them were in wheelchairs as they were crippled and had no legs. 

Two of them lacked their arms. 

Three of them were paralyzed completely. 

The last four were simply blinded. 

"These are all factory workers who had become crippled. They were gathered from the outskirts government-post for aid. They all volunteered. They were also on a suicide watch list. They do not have any family members left."

Observing them Rake realised a few crucial facts, all of them were extremely young. Not older than 24. Yet all of them were crippled. They couldn't work in any factories or anywhere, hence they were supported by the aid system of the government. 

But he guessed that they also lost the will to live since they had no more family members left. 

"Are they immigrants?", Rake asked for confirmation of his personal theory. 

"Yes. They all lost their family when traveling to NQSC." Ayna confirmed. 

"I see." 

'So, they barely managed to come here, looking for a new life. They probably worked extremely hard to make sure that their families' sacrifices would not go to waste. Yet they all lost the ability to work. Or even live properly. The three paralyzed people must be in the worst situation.'

Looking at them, all he felt was pity and sadness. He empathized with them. Helplessness is a very effective unifying emotion and something that everyone can relate to. 

They all were helpless and had no way to affect their destiny. Rake somehow survived. But these people…they almost had no hope. 

'No need to worry. I'm here. There has to be a way. And in the end, if the experiment does not succeed, I'll find a healer somehow and get them fixed.'

"What did you tell them when you brought them here?" Rake asked Ayna. 

"We told them that the government is doing some experiments on healing and supporting mundane people. Their help would be extremely appreciated."

"I see. That's not that far from what we are doing."

Rake then walked towards the test subjects and introduced himself. 

"Hello, my name is Rake. And you have been lied to when you were asked to come here. We're not going to just heal you. We're trying to get you infected with the nightmare spell and make you strong awakened warriors. 

You all know that no matter what your physical status is here, in the nightmare realm, you'll all have a fresh and perfect body. 

Even if you don't want to be warriors, there are also plenty of supporting aspects and abilities. In my eyes, they are also very important. In some cases, even more. 

So I hope that all of you will give it their all. This is a chance at a new life. 

A chance to change fate.

I also have experienced helplessness. Feeling like no matter what you do, it doesn't matter. But it does. It matters and so do you. All of you are important and valuable. 

Take this chance and change your lives."

As he spoke, he saw a glimmer of hope in their eyes. He saw how their faces became firm. 

As he spoke he was filled with determination. 

A determination to change this dying world.

And Dominate. 

One step at a time.

And he's going to need an army. A big one. One made with the support of the government. One made to help people. 

**

AN: Sorry, I had this one ready for a while, I forgot that I had it ready. At that time, there was a power outage. 

Btw, the aspect reveal.

Finally. 

It might seem disappointing at first, but that's the point. I wanted it to be ambiguous so that it could do weird and awesome things without being locked. 

Basically, he can have many abilities without it being too weird. 

As for the flaws, they are rough. 

Every time he uses water he gets hungry. But no matter what he eats, he can't taste it. It's a brutal situation. Took inspiration from Nephis. 

Water manipulation as an awakened is a pretty busted ability.

The other abilities will also be similarly busted. I'm already concerned about what flaws they should have that will perfectly serve as a balance that's not weak but not crippling. 

Hmm, maybe something like Kai's flaw that works against his personality. Kai's flaw made him better instead of being a nuisance. It made him a better person. The same went for Sunny. Not telling lies made him really loyal friends. 

Hmm, What personality trait should I target with Rake?

**

Thanks for reading and still hanging around. I'm sorry for having such a volatile and horrible release 'schedule'. I'll try to write more. 

But at least this way I get to think more. Weak silver lining. 

Sigh, I need to stop wasting time. 

Anyways, I've read 'Mother of Learning' recently. It was a fantastic novel. I confess that I gave up on everything else. 

Have you guys read it?

If not, I highly recommend it. It's got a really nice time loop mechanic. I think G3 also read it. I think he named a chapter 'mother of learning' recently. 

Recently as in 50 chapters back. 

lol.

Anyways, hope you guys are enjoying your day/night.

Have a great day.

Byeeeee. 

**

AN: There were a few mistakes. The things that changed are 1. Inheritance is an Aspect ability.

2. Essence manager is an innate ability. He learned it by being able to control his essence without awakening. 

3. Essence handler is something that he gets after ascending. The rest should be the same. 

He can inherit aspects by passing pseudo nightmares. He is sort of immune from corruption. He can generate essence fast. And his control over it is unparalleled. 

In the nightmare so far, he has two flaws, one is that he has no sense of taste. And another is that his body is extremely tasty to all nightmare creatures. 

I'll repeat this at the beginning of the next chapter as well. Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks guys for pointing the problems out.