Awakened

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Awakened (觉醒者)
Species/Race	Humans who have awakened supernatural abilities
Occupation/Role	Combatants, investigators, patrol members, crafters, healers, logistics personnel, and other specialized roles
Affiliation	Varies; may serve organizations such as the Patrol Team, Investigation Team, Cleanup Team, Rescue Team, martial halls, or independent adventurer groups

Ranks and Levels

Rank	Documented Levels	Notes
Novice Awakened	1–9	Newly awakened individuals begin at Level 1. A fire-type Novice can generally create one full-power Fireball per level, up to nine at Level 9.
Intermediate Awakened	Begins at Level 10	Reaching this rank causes a qualitative transformation in supernatural power; levels become harder to judge through outward performance alone.
High-Level Awakened	Begins at Level 20	High-Level Awakened possess substantial resistance to lower-ranked abilities; Liu Sishan is a Level 21 example. 3 11 13
Top-Tier Awakened	Exact threshold unstated	Top-Tier examples include Zhang Ping at Level 33, Zhu Wuneng at Level 36, Prince Yue at Level 37, Feng Laixian at Level 38, and Zuo Xiangming at Level 39. 38 49 331 410
King-level Awakened	Legendary	Mingzhu City has no known King-level Awakened. King-level Mutated Beasts are considered capable of threatening or suppressing even Top-Tier defenders. 3 13

A Transcender represents a further advancement in existential status beyond the Awakened stages. The exact requirements and relationship between King-level and Transcender status remain unclear, but Transcender-level existence is treated as qualitatively distinct from ordinary Awakened strength. 470 590

Power Progression

Advancement or Factor	Process	Documented Effects
Level growth	Persistent physical training can shorten the time needed to level up. Food and combat may also affect advancement, but their results vary; harmful food, traumatic combat, or unresolved psychological issues can delay progress. 149	Growth emphasizes the attributes most compatible with an Awakened’s ability and physique.
Novice to Intermediate	Reaching Level 10 produces a qualitative transformation rather than a merely numerical increase. 3 4 64	Users gain substantially greater control over their existing abilities, stamina, and Mental Strength, and may unlock Intermediate-rank advanced skills. 64
Advancement stagnation	Multi-ability Awakened can stagnate despite otherwise meeting advancement requirements if they have not selected a clear developmental path or raised an ability to sufficient Proficiency. 63	Meditation, self-examination, and commitment to a desired future path can resolve the blockage. 63
Intermediate to High-Level	Reaching Level 20 brings another immense qualitative rise in Mental Strength, perception, control, and overall power. 251	High-Level Awakened can use their abilities with much greater precision; exceptional individuals may greatly exceed ordinary members of the rank. 251
Rank-specific skills	Rank advancement can unlock advanced skills that refine an existing talent or create specialized combat, support, contract, healing, or transformation functions. 49 64 251	Such skills may be more significant than an ordinary new ability and can fundamentally alter an Awakened’s fighting style. 64

Ability Classification

Mingzhu City classifies awakened abilities by their practical ceiling, utility, and activation conditions rather than their immediate strength alone. An ability may receive a lower rating if its potential is limited or its activation cost is too harsh. 10

Tier	Description	Examples
Useless Tier	Abilities with little practical value or severe drawbacks.	Cold Immunity
Convenience Tier	A recognized classification; most Pearl Ability Academy students possess Convenience or Practical Tier abilities.	—
Practical Tier	Abilities that provide useful everyday benefits but commonly struggle to advance beyond the Intermediate stage.	Storage Space, Food Enhancement, Eagle Eye, Enhanced Smell
Combat Tier	Abilities directly useful in battle. Their users may qualify for the Patrol Team or Investigation Team.	Steel Body, Rapid Healing, Enhanced Five Senses, Appraisal Technique
City Guardian Tier	Abilities with the potential to protect a city.	Mind Control, Gravity Manipulation, Equipment Forging, Heavenly Eye
Nation Guardian Tier	Abilities with the potential to protect an entire nation.	Enhanced Sixth Sense, Precognition
Infinite Tier	Abilities with limits too vast to determine.	Ability Replication, Divine Artifact Forging, Wisdom Eye

Attributes and Advancement

Awakened do not develop identically. Their growth depends on ability, training, potential, and primary attributes. Leveling increases the attributes most aligned with an individual's ability and physique. 5

• Physical Strength and Mental Strength are major attributes for summoners and beast tamers. Zhang Ping’s advancement to Level 2 increased both by roughly five percent. 5 36
• Strength, stamina, and speed are common primary attributes for physical enhancement-type Awakened.
  • Burst types emphasize strength.
  • Endurance types emphasize strength and stamina.
  • Balanced types emphasize strength, stamina, and speed.
  • Agile types emphasize strength and speed. 36
• Potential represents unrealized power rather than current combat ability. It can be converted into strength through training, leveling, or the awakening and evolution of talents. 10 15
• Potential Capacity is the amount of potential an individual can safely hold. Increasing potential beyond this capacity is impossible until the individual expands it through physical development and training. 481
• Physical training, martial arts, equipment, and practical experience remain important even for highly gifted Awakened. Ability descriptions alone cannot determine a battle’s outcome. 15 16
• Rank and Level advantages are significant but not absolute. Superior equipment, ability interactions, unusual circumstances, combat experience, or severe injury to a stronger opponent can allow a lower-level combatant to prevail. 65

Origins and Awakening

Before awakening, Awakened are genetically indistinguishable from ordinary humans and display no reliable physical sign that predicts their future abilities. Once awakening occurs, they can instinctively use their supernatural power. Attempts to force awakening through techniques such as “Awakening Breathing Techniques” have been exposed as frauds. 53

• Supernatural abilities are closely connected to an individual’s wishes, fears, habits, and state of mind at the time of awakening. Conflicting thoughts can cause an ability to develop in an unexpected direction. 11 481
• An artificial trigger may also awaken an ability. The Awakening Ring gradually connects with its wearer’s mind and can eventually induce awakening, but chaotic thoughts can instead turn the wearer into a monster. 355
• Body Mutation-type abilities can permanently influence the user’s body and physical development. Those who awaken at a young age may stop growing normally or be permanently shaped by their transformed form, affecting future careers and social treatment. 537

Abilities & Skills

Awakened Abilities

Most Awakened possess one core ability for life. Their powers can grow through repeated use, training, personal habits, and environmental influences, but different users may develop the same nominal ability in radically different ways. 2 11 50

• Abilities can operate through different mechanisms even when they produce similar effects.
• An ability’s development tends to reflect its user’s personality, habits, and preferred applications.
• Some abilities are passive, while others require physical strength, Mental Strength, environmental resources, or specific conditions to activate. 11 50
• High potential does not guarantee high strength; unused potential may never be realized before age, injury, or death limits further advancement. 10 22
• Exceptional powers can permit the acquisition of additional abilities. Zhang Ping’s Contract Gem can repeatedly increase potential and provide chances to awaken further talents, making it a major exception to the usual one-ability rule. 2 3 251
• Mutated Beast Essence can potentially grant a Mutated Beast’s innate ability, but it is fatal or corruptive to most users. Zhang Ping survived consuming it because of his Other-Eater nature. 221

Ability Compatibility and Conditions

Abilities obtained through gems or other external means are not automatically safe for every user.

• Low compatibility with an ability gem can cause superpower loss of control if the ability is consumed directly. 334
• Some abilities possess their own conditions for stable use and can negotiate these requirements through Communion with All Things and formal contracts. 334
• Conditions can impose continuing burdens, such as consuming a specified food daily or performing a particular activity every day. 334
• Accumulating too many abilities can create conflicts, reduce the chance of successfully acquiring further abilities, and make uncontrolled activation harder to suppress. 331 358

Advanced Skills

Awakened can acquire specialized skills as they advance through the ranks. These skills may refine, expand, or fundamentally change how an ability is used.

• Energy Compression increases an elemental user’s energy-storage capacity.
• Water Temperature Regulation allows controlled water to range from extreme cold to boiling heat.
• Hyper-Regeneration accelerates natural recovery.
• Rank-specific skills can grant transformations, enhanced elemental control, or unique combat states. 11 49
• Intermediate-rank skills can grant specialized contract forms, including weapon, treasure, and storage contracts. 64
• Higher-rank skills may provide powerful transformations or time-dependent combat states, such as Feng Laixian’s Great Sun Red Emperor Form. 49

Bioforce Fields

A Bioforce Field is a trainable secondary power that combines physical strength and Mental Strength. It differs from Psychokinesis by consuming both bodily and mental energy, though the expenditure can be minimal for basic techniques. 391 393

• A person with an established Bioforce Field can assist another person’s awakening by surrounding, compressing, or stimulating the dormant field. 391 393
• Physical condition and Mental Strength affect whether an individual can perceive and awaken their Bioforce Field. 391
• Bioforce Fields can be shaped into shields, projected force, flight, long-range attacks, and defensive or offensive constructs. Their exact power varies greatly between users. 393 394
• Collaborative research has produced techniques such as Mind Reading, which uses a stronger field to perceive another person’s thoughts, and Information Obfuscation, which interferes with Appraisal abilities. 394
• The Rescue Team’s Medical Research Group has institutionalized assisted Bioforce Field awakening as a merit-point service. 391

Appraisal Techniques

Appraisal is a Combat Tier ability that reveals information about objects, abilities, people, and Mutated Beasts. Its exact results vary between users. 10 32

• Some users receive written descriptions, while others obtain records through books or other forms.
• Appraisal may fail repeatedly, especially against stronger targets or targets protected by concealment.
• Different Appraisal users can obtain different information from the same target.
• Successful appraisal can reveal names, race, faction, rank, level, potential, lifespan, talents, and advanced skills. 5 15 32 49
• Appraisal information is partly limited by the appraiser’s own knowledge and understanding. A user cannot receive information they are incapable of comprehending. 131
• Specialized equipment and abilities can obstruct Appraisal, while advanced information-based techniques may interfere with or falsify what an appraiser perceives. 331 394

Resonance Substances

Resonance Substances are materials, treasures, or environmental stimuli that strengthen an ability or trigger hidden traits. They are usually discovered accidentally rather than through systematic research. 22 50

• A Wind Gem may have triggered Zhang Ping’s awakening of Wind Whisperer. 17 22 50
• Water-element Awakened commonly carry water, while fire-element Awakened may carry fire oil to support their abilities. 50
• The Salt Frost Fruit can increase the potential of both Awakened and Mutated Beasts, attracting dangerous competition whenever it matures. 22
• Excessive reliance on a Resonance Substance can be harmful: an ability may gradually evolve to require that external material for optimal use.
• Reliance can leave an Awakened severely weakened when the supporting substance is unavailable. 50

Limitations and Risks

Aging and Decline

Awakened are not immortal. Many cease improving after their physical prime, and both their bodies and supernatural abilities may decline with age. 22

• Potential cannot always be fully converted into strength.
• Long lifespans do not guarantee continued growth.
• Waiting indefinitely for a safer opportunity to advance can leave an Awakened too weak to seize it later. 22
• Old injuries, illness, and physical decline can reduce an Awakened’s combat ability enough that even ordinary people may become dangerous under the right circumstances. 15

Lost Ones and Fallen Ones

A Lost One is an Awakened whose ability has begun controlling their behavior rather than remaining under conscious control. If the deterioration worsens and the ability develops independent consciousness, the Lost One becomes a Fallen One. 47

• Lost Ones are compared to people suffering from mental illness: their powers increasingly shape their desires, habits, and decisions.
• Fallen Ones are true monsters whose abilities alter their bodies to strengthen themselves.
• Self-awareness, moral boundaries, and conscious control over one’s actions are considered essential safeguards. 47
• Situ Shibai’s rule against copying another person’s ability without permission is presented as an example of a personal boundary that resists corruption. 47
• A large number of abilities can become difficult to control when they activate simultaneously. Such loss of control does not necessarily make the user a Fallen One if they retain mastery over their abilities and consciousness. 358

Society and Roles

Awakened occupy many essential positions in Mingzhu City.

• Patrol Team and Investigation Team personnel combat threats and investigate supernatural incidents.
• Cleanup Team members operate against concealed Mutated Beast infiltration and other high-risk threats. 15 19
• Martial-hall instructors and apprentices develop combat techniques that can supplement or rival supernatural abilities. 44
• Forgers create supernatural equipment from refined metals and Mutated Beast materials. 4 7
• Healers and logistics personnel support city defenses and battlefield operations. 44
• Independent adventurers gather materials, explore dangerous regions, and frequently serve as a city’s informal first line of defense. 6 43
• Rescue Team members and researchers use Awakened abilities, superhuman training, and Bioforce Field research for cross-world rescue, investigation, medical work, and organized defense. 391 523
• The divide between Awakened and ordinary people is a major source of social inequality. Ordinary humans are often restricted to dangerous, exhausting, and poorly rewarded labor while Awakened control access to security and social mobility. 87 157

Trivia

• An Awakened’s ability tier does not necessarily reflect its eventual ceiling; harsh activation conditions or limited early usefulness can lower an ability’s official rating. 10
• A single Level difference is not the sole measure of combat strength. Equipment, experience, stamina, ability compatibility, and battlefield awareness can all change the result. 15 16
• The ability to resist lower-ranked powers normally follows rank suppression, but Heavenly Fox cognitive abilities can bypass this principle when empowered by a suspected King-tier Mutated Beast. 4 13
• Awakened abilities can be developed into highly unconventional roles. Summoning powers can supply food, while metal control can become specialized armor control through the user’s habits and preferences. 207
• Higher rank alone does not make an Awakened a different species. Even exceptionally powerful Awakened remain human at their core unless altered by another power, corruption, or transformation. 369