Apprentice Swordsman I
Alex walked over to the bed, ignoring the pile of dirty, skin-covered sheets he had shoved into the closet earlier.
He sat on the bare mattress in a cross-legged meditative position to gain control over his own body before it completely betrayed him again.
He closed his eyes and took a deep, steadying breath.
Inhale the cool air. Exhale the heat.
He focused his mind entirely on the Mana Circuits that's acting unusual in his lower abdomen.
He mentally guided the cool, blue energy to flow smoothly through his newly formed mana pathways, washing away the lingering sparks of raw lust and the frantic spike of adrenaline.
As time passed, he finally calmed down. The heavy, aching warmth in his chest and pelvis began to scatter and fade into nothingness.
His breathing deepened, and the tight knot of anxiety in his stomach loosened.
More importantly, his little brother, who had been standing painfully hard against the fabric of his sweatpants, also calmed, slowly shrinking back down into a soft, relaxed state.
Alex let out a long sigh of relief.
He slowly opened his eyes, the golden, vertical slits of his vision fading completely back into normal, dark human irises.
His mind was finally clear.
He reached over to his small wooden desk and picked up his mobile phone.
He unlocked the screen and tapped into his banking app to check his remaining credits after buying things yesterday.
The screen glowed faintly, illuminating his pale, flawless face in the dim room.
[ Account Balance: 24,250 Credits ]
Alex stared at the number, a small, genuine smile touching his lips. Thankfully Mira didn't charge him anything.
With over twenty-four thousand credits, he finally had some breathing room.
He closed the banking app, opened the Gene Association's official database, and continued to check the professional requirements recorded by various senior professionals and organizations.
He scrolled through the long lists of guides and basic manuals.
There weren't any records of "Rare", "General" or "Hero-type" Professions available to the public, those were tightly guarded secrets held by the noble families and the top-tier academies and organizations.
But for civilian awakeners without a strong background, being able to browse and purchase knowledge about basic professions at a low cost was already more than enough.
In this world, having a "Profession" wasn't an exclusive feature of Alex's system.
Other Gene Awakeners could also awaken them.
It was a fundamental law of this world; you could say they were recognized by the "Heavenly Dao" or the world's consciousness.
When an awakener trained hard enough and met specific physical and mental conditions, the world rewarded them with a formal Profession, granting them special privileges, stat multipliers, and access to higher realms of power.
This is also the reason why Gene awakeners with professions like Researchers, Alchemists or Knights were regarded highly.
However, Alex knew exactly what his own advantage was.
Normal awakeners were strictly bound by the rules.
If someone chose the path of a Mage, their mana pathways would adapt to a specific mana type the Mage uses and won't be able to accommodate other types of mana.
If they tried to suddenly switch to a Knight class, the conflicting mana would literally tear their body apart. Most people could only ever walk a single path or multiple paths that align with each other.
But Alex's Survival Simulation Interface was different.
"My system doesn't care about conflicts," Alex muttered, his dark eyes reflecting the light of the phone screen. "I can unlock multiple professions without destroying my body. And more importantly..."
He glanced up at the golden text hovering in the top right corner of his vision.
[ Source Power: 111 Points ]
His ability to simulate. While a normal awakener had to swing a sword ten thousand times in the rain or meditate for years to grasp a basic skill, Alex could simply spend his Source Power to simulate that grueling hard work.
So, by looking at the general requirements of different professions recorded by the Gene Association, he planned on unlocking his own.
Although, rescuing Iron Head was one reason, if he couldn't do it or helping it might endanger his own life, he would definitely not act like a saint and sacrifice himself.
He also wasn't just going to sit back and let his body turn into a helpless vessel.
Looking through the list of basic classes listed on the form, you could say that professions related to Magic classes were too expensive, requiring rare catalysts and wands.
Heavy classes like Berserker or Guardian no longer suited for his mutating body; his bones were getting lighter, and his muscles were softening.
He needed something fast, precise, and lethal.
Something that took full advantage of his ridiculously high Agility attribute and the flexible, spring-like power of his new Serpentine Musculature.
Which filtered his results to one Swordsman, second Assassin and third Hunter.
He tapped the screen, narrowing his search down to a single, focused category.
"So, Swordsmanship it is…," He primarily focused on Swordsmanship to become an Apprentice Swordsman.
He clicked on a highly-rated guide titled 'The Fundamentals of the Blade: Entering the Apprentice Realm'.
It cost 15000 credits to unlock the full text, diagrams, and video logs of basic swordsmanship, cultivation techniques, professional requirements and a set of resources needed for cultivation.
Without hesitating, Alex paid the fee.
The guide opened instantly, detailing the exact conditions needed to trigger the World consciousness and awaken the profession.
He needed a decent sword, a foundational breathing technique, and a specific set of Basic Swordsmanship skills to align his mana with the blade.
"As for a sword, I can grab a good sword from Uncle John's rack downstairs," Alex thought, his eyes darting across the digital text.
"There’s already a video on the introduction of the Basic Swordsmanship that I can watch and practice anytime.”
“However, the Breathing technique and the specific body strengthening medicine can only be collected by me personally at the Gene Association.”
"No way," Alex muttered to himself, shaking his head.
"Things like this cannot just be shared fully online without signing a strict confidentiality contract."
"Otherwise, there wouldn't be any need to pay for this kind of information if anyone could easily screenshot it and leak it to the public."
It made perfect sense. The Gene Association strictly regulated the flow of power in this world.
The 15,000 credits he just spent wasn't for a simple PDF download; it was more like joining a Martial Arts school, but it's only temporary and you can leave whenever you wish.
So, to actually get started with the breathing technique, he had to go down to the Gene Association again everyday till he can become an Apprentice Swordsman, verify his identity, and sign a binding non-disclosure agreement.