Sol could feel his martial skill improving day by day. The strength in his muscles and bones grew tougher and harder. The small frame that he once carried was no more. His chiseled jaw and defined muscles frightened and attracted in equal measure. Sol wondered if this was what it meant to be strong, to be someone who people looked up to because of pure power.

The voice in his head told him he was Level 10 when he found the rest of the Black Crow. Once they saw the man, they pulled out their weapons and brandished them at him. After a very strenuous discussion where he tried to convince them he was the same Sol they had always known, he brought up Choi and Bellyboy and what happened to them. That seemed to convince most of the crew, though some still wore their incredulity on their faces.

"So what happened to Redface?" the Captain asked. It seemed that they knew that they had been taken over by some powerful force, but the details were lost on them. The nostalgic crow pins with the gentle luster were no more, and nothing distinguished a Black Crow member from a regular person anymore.

Sol grimaced. "He was a traitor. Sold us out to the lich and the lich's werewolf minion. We couldn't do a thing about it."

The Captain frowned. It wasn't what he wanted to hear, and it showed. Redface was a trusted comrade who danced and sang and drank with all the rest of them.

But all the same, the Captain put on a weary smile and brushed a feather out of Sol's hair. Sol was taller than him now, but he didn't care.

It was that night that Sol discovered that killing animals didn't do anything for his level anymore. It was a minor discovery that didn't shock him too badly, as he didn't think it really mattered at this point. He was already plenty strong, and would support the Black Crow as much as he could.

But then, the voice came.

Levels must be acquired.

What does that mean? Sol wondered what the voice meant.

Levels must be acquired.

Exhaustion overtook him, and he laid down to rest in a tent nearby. A group of Black Crow members had set it up for him, maybe due to his stolid, reliable appearance nowadays. His head hit the pillow, and he fell fast asleep.

In the morning, what he saw was a massacre. Corpses lined the dirt road and blood seeped into the nearby river. Sol had woken up in a state of peace, with a voice telling him that he had leveled up to Level 11. He now realized where he had gotten the level from.

The Captain, the one who had a hand in raising him in the Black Crow, was staring wide-eyed into an invisible world, a soulless body that gazed into nothingness.

He closed his eyes and fell to the ground. He weeped.

Why did this happen? Weren't awakeners blessed by the gods? Did the gods care so little for the people who worshipped them? A voice rang in Sol's head.

Do you want this to stop?

Yes.

Ascend to godhood.

I will.

He gripped his shaking wrist with his other hand and mustered his courage. He would choose the ones who would die. He would never let this bastard system retake control of him.

Levels must be acquired.