The growing number of Awakeneds that was said on the news slightly concerned Max.
Little Dou repeatedly assured Max that his System was the only one in the world and the newbie Awakeneds popping up has other reasons why they were appearing.
In the end, Max decided to only deal with them in the future if he were to encounter one of them.
Up until now, Max still couldn't think whether having a lot of Awakeneds running around would be good for him.
And if it will be bad for him, what's the reason why it will be bad?
From his continues browsing, Max had read a lot, including something about the government. There was information that the government had been trying to identify Awakeneds in their specials ways.
Awakeneds who had seen this have mixed feelings about the issue as each of them were under different forms of government, living in their respective countries.
From the information that was written, some of the more aggressive government chose to control Awakeneds, leading to so much chaos and loss of trust.
Now they had to deal with a worse situation where no Awakeneds was willing to believe their words.
Some governments limited Awakeneds on what they can and can't do, allowing them to live their lives normally.
Then the last group of governments treated Awakeneds with respect. They have their own special forces composed of Awakeneds but would not harm, limit, or control anyone if they don't break the law.
Sometimes they chose to turn a blind eye on little crimes if they don't go too far with it. Most of the government use this way to attract others from their more restrictive countries to move to theirs.
It was an effective strategy that showed excellent results. Now a lot of places around the world were copying this strategy. It had good results, but it wasn't as effective as the first one to do it.
Another feature of the phone was the chat groups and forums. Max jumped around different groups using his user ID.
Someone could make their own group if they want and they can choose whether they want it to be public or private.
In the forum, most of the contents were news and announcements that people wrote like jobs for hire and breaking news.
There were a lot of jobs involving crimes and assassinations. This was probably where the requests of rich people that are not Awakeneds go.
Shadow Theif joined the group.
When he joined the last group of Awakeneds that were living in the same country as him, Max was bombarded with questions.
As soon as he got in, one user started chatting, "Welcome, new member! Are you a criminal? How many have you killed?"
Another one typed, "What weapons do you use? You should use a sword! Real men use swords unless you're a woman?"
"Oh, we have a new member! Shadow Theif? You must be a criminal. I'm a criminal too!"
Seeing this, Max was stunned. These people are insane asking him about these things but remembering they are anonymous, and nothing can trace their words back to them; Max sent back a message.
"I'm a thief. Not a criminal and have never killed anyone."
One person instantly responded, "Oh, boring. He has never killed anyone. I already have ten kills in my years of being an Awakened."
"You should try to kill someone. You would need it someday!"
Being an Awakened, this person seemed to be an Awakened for years already, not those new Awakeneds Max has been hearing about.
Another person typed, adding, "That's right! Someone told me the same thing in the past, and it helped me greatly! Now I can do a lot of things in my city, and no one could fight me!"
"Me too! When those guys tried to catch me, I just outrun and play with them. They can't do anything to me!"
"You just outrun them! You didn't kill anyone."
"I did. There was this rich man I've been eyeing. When his bodyguard held a bag full of cash, I pulled it fast, but he didn't want to let go, so I ran so fast, turning on many corners. When I looked back, the guy died still holding the bag! What an ugly way to die, right?"
"…"
"…"
Since the killer group members continued their talks about their kills, and Max was uninterested with it, he moved to check another group.
Moving from group to group, most of them were only talking about boring stuff that Max kept changing to find a good group.
Until he found what he was looking for. The group only has two people online, and the remaining ones offline were only a few. It was a particularly small group.
Reading their conversations, Max found something interesting on the topic they were talking about.
"I saw them! It's true!"
"Really when?"
"Just right now!"
"Can you check it again if they are still there?"
"There's no need for me to check. I can still see the lights! There should still be fighting!"
"Who are they? Can you recognize them?"
"No. But I saw their skills! One of them was shooting out water, and the other was a puppet!"
"Puppet? Did you see anyone controlling it?"
"No. I immediately ran away. I don't want to be included in their fight. They are too strong for me!"
"Too bad. I originally wanted you to record it."
The guy seemed like he was genuinely curious that he wanted to watch the fight though it was also not impossible that he just wanted to study them.
From the history of their conversation, at a particular area of the city that he was in, two Awakeneds were having a fight.
Looking at the exact location, Max immediately recognized it. It was where the old buildings were located, and the area was now barren, only waiting to be demolished and rebuild into something modern and appealing to the eyes.
Since that was the case, no one was living there — the perfect place for fights to happen with nothing around them.
Max contemplated whether he should go and take a look or not. He considered if it is too dangerous for him to go there.
He was extremely interested in seeing how they fight. An Awakened with skills to shoot water was too easy to imagine. What Max was interested in is the puppet.
Max was curious about what kind of skill was the puppet, how it works while fighting, and finally, whether it is powerful or not.
This was his first time hearing about someone using a puppet as a skill. It was an unorthodox skill, so it must be strong.
The more skills Max was aware of, the better it will be for him in the future if he were to face them.
Spending some time thinking, Max ultimately decided to go and take a look. From the water skills and skills for puppets, he determined that it shouldn't be dangerous for him to go and watch from the sides.
Finishing all his preparations, Max immediately went to the location that was written by the guy who saw it.
