Dawn Architect

Chapter 10: Return and Departure

The way back to our shelter was long and tiring, but we finally arrived. The smell of dampness and filth greeted us, but for us, it was commonplace, although I don't want to admit it this place brings back a lot of nostalgia. 

My two companions, Clayton and Eirlys, along with the eighteen children that made up our group we approached one of the entrances to our hideout to which we had to pass through the sewers of the poor area.

Once we got down and walked through the labyrinth of the sewers by the path that only my group knew, we arrived at an area where there were vertical stairs that led to our lair. Once I climbed up I opened the lid and noticed that the children inside were alert because of the sudden movement at the entrance to their lair. Once they noticed it was me they let their guard down, the ones inside were 10 kids who were the ones that were part of my original group along with Clayton and Eirlys.

"Leader, is everything okay?"

"What happened? When we didn't notice, you three were nowhere to be seen."

"boss, we were worried those guys would get you."

"Sorry, leader, I just ran off on my own and couldn't help you."

"Who are they?"

"I'm just glad nothing bad happened to them."

A flurry of questions came at us and so many that I couldn't answer any of them, so I told them:

"Come on, let's save the questions for later. They just need to know that these are new members of our group. Now I need to rest, help the others find a place to stay. We'll have a meeting when I wake up."

I said tiredly. Tonight I did a lot of things that this body is not used to, so I need to sleep and rest the body and also the mental fatigue. I have a lot on my mind and I need to sort it out carefully to establish a concrete plan for the future.

I woke up around noon. Our lair was an old warehouse whose doors were sealed and the only entrance was through the sewers. It is a place we found by chance, but since it is spacious and hard to find, we decided to make it our emergency escape place, like when the kidnappers were chasing us.

 I noticed that in my room improvised with fabrics and scraps for privacy I had a broken mirror but it was enough to see my whole body 'so this is my current appearance eh' there was a young boy of about 10 years old with red eyes and black hair as well as torn clothes that seemed to be taken from the garbage and he was thin and his complexion was a little smaller than children his age, once again I was hit by the reality of my return and conviction burned in me, once I finished seeing myself in mirror I called the others to start a meeting.

We gathered in the central space that had nothing. Sitting in a circle, I explained the events and what I had prepared for our future steps, after telling how we escaped from the kidnappers. Most were skeptical, but with the testimony of the other twenty, they realized it was the truth.

"Boss, waking up gives you so much power," one of the kids asked curiously.

"I didn't just get lucky and catch them off guard," none of them knew they had faced a one star awakening and some probably don't even know what that is. Changing the subject he declares.

"I'm going to start a training regimen," I proposed, looking at the kids. "We need to prevent things like the one before from happening and be prepared for any situation that arises.

Now that I was an awakened one I could wake them up artificially. I knew the method and only needed the children's cooperation.

The children nodded earnestly, knowing that the training would be vital to their survival in this dangerous world.

"I will begin by turning everyone into awakened ones."

"Really, leader, can we become awakened?"

My statement left them shocked.

"Yes, but this will be a secret that we can't spread. If the others know, they will probably kidnap and torture us," I decided to scare them a little so that they would not easily spread that I know how to awaken them. Artificial awakening methods is something the elites guard with suspicion, so it could be dangerous for them to find out.

"Who wants to volunteer?"

I asked and the first to raise their hands were my sub-leaders Clayton and Eirlys. And so I began to start the training regimen as I woke them up. A week went by like that. I could only wake up four to five a day, so it took me a week to do it, but I thought it was necessary. These children can be the basis of my strength in the future, now most do not know their age, but their ages by appearance vary from 6 to 10 years, an opportune age to wake up.

In this week I not only dedicated myself to awaken them, I also trained my body to fully synchronize with it, previously I could not fully use my power because I was not used to fight such a small body. Once I solved the problem with the children, I had to increase my power. Unfortunately, I needed to kill beasts to gain experience and continue to the next level, which was a one-star awakened.

So I must find a way to get out of the walls of the capital and kill monsters. However, before I could delve into the details of my plan, Eirlys approached and taking me by surprise asked:

"Lucien, why are you acting differently?". She couldn't seem to contain that question in the face of my visible change in my personality. I'm surprised they could hold out for a week to question me.

"Since you woke up, you are like a different person."

"...."

I took a moment to consider my answer, aware that I could not reveal the true nature of my knowledge of the future. Noting that I didn't want to tell the source of my changes, I continue speaking.

"If it's something you can't reveal, that's fine. I understand, you don't need to make any excuses, but everyone in the group who has known you for years noticed your change and was concerned."

Hearing what she said, I couldn't help but be moved by how intelligent and understanding she was, despite being so young.

"Don't worry, although I can't tell you the reason for my change, I assure you that, just like before, our goal is the same."

The children who seemed to be doing other things, but were paying attention to our conversation, couldn't help but be disappointed in my answer, but that's just the way it is. I don't plan to tell anyone that I went back to the past. 

By the way, our goal was simple is to survive we are a group that came together to survive in this region of the city where nothing assured your life tomorrow being the one with the best ideas in the group it was decided that I would be the leader and so it began, from robbery to begging I made sure nothing would get out of control and not bother the other residents of the poor areas.

I decided to change the subject before they could ask any more questions.

"Now, let's focus on finding information," I continued. "We need sustainable resources for our group, and that will only be possible if we know where to look."

I'm going to be gone for a while, so while I'm gone, I'm going to have you guys gathering information. I will divide you into two groups. One will take turns gathering information that seems relevant and the other will continue with training. They will take turns every day to switch roles. I have assigned Clayton and Eirlys to lead the groups while I am gone.

They don't have to worry about food, as I bought from the system store. Although a single point of (SP) is valuable, food was relatively cheap. I didn't have to spend more than 5 SP to feed the group for more than a week, so I left resources for them to survive a month without stealing or begging. Now that they are awakened, they need more energy, but all the food in the store is of high quality, even the cheapest. Well, it's obvious when I have to kill a one-star monster to have a single five (SP). Once everything was prepared, I said goodbye and went to look for a way out of the city walls.