Blue Star — a planet reborn in spiritual energy and drenched in blood.
Humanity clung to survival under the rule of the Aurelius Empire, one of the last great bastions of civilization. In the empire's southern region lay Silverpine City, and at its center stood Silverpine Ability Academy, one of the few institutions still capable of producing awakened warriors.
Today, its vast College Square was packed.
Rows upon rows of students stood beneath a floating holographic banner:
ANNUAL AWAKENING CEREMONY — CLASS OF 312
On the raised platform, Dean Reinhardt Vale stepped forward, his long navy coat fluttering in the breeze. He raised a hand for silence.
"Students of Silverpine Academy," he began, voice deep and seasoned with age, "today marks the most important day of your lives. From this moment onward, your destiny will be decided by the power you awaken."
His voice echoed across the square, filled with equal parts solemnity and hope.
"Blue Star has changed. The revival of spiritual energy brought monsters, disasters, and trials that would crush ordinary humans. But awakeners… awakeners are the blades that carve out our future. May each of you awaken a power worthy of survival."
Below the stage, the students listened with burning excitement — some pale with nervousness, others practically shaking with anticipation.
Among them stood a young man with ink-black hair and calm eyes: Alex Blake.
While everyone else's eyes shone with hope, Alex's gaze was distant, expression unreadable.
Eighteen years in this world… and today everything gets decided.
He didn't cheer. He didn't tremble. He simply stood quietly, like a still lake surrounded by storms.
Because unlike the others, Alex wasn't originally from Blue Star.
He had been reborn here — forced to survive eighteen years of chaos with nothing but caution and luck. And now, when the world demanded he awaken something… anything…
He didn't even know if his soul qualified.
Normal schools taught math.
Silverpine Academy taught monster identification, beast-core analysis, and combat survival.
On Blue Star, only awakened abilities determined whether one lived or died.
If he awakened nothing, his life was over.
"Hey, Alex!" A friendly voice whispered beside him.
It was Evan Hart, his best friend — a skinny boy with messy brown hair and an always-cheerful attitude.
"You look like you're preparing for your funeral," Evan said, nudging him. "Relax! Maybe you'll awaken something crazy. Who knows? Fate might finally pity you."
Alex gave him a flat look. "I'm not nervous."
"You're very nervous."
"…Shut up."
Evan grinned. "There you go! Show some emotion."
Alex shook his head lightly and returned his gaze to the stage.
Dean Reinhardt finished his speech, raising his staff.
"I hereby announce the beginning of the Awakening Ceremony! Students will proceed one by one!"
A line quickly formed.
On the stage stood a one-meter-tall silver pillar, and atop it a fist-sized, transparent crystal sphere.
The Ability Awakening Orb.
As long as a student placed their hand on it, the orb would read their soul and stimulate their latent power.
Abilities were ranked from highest to lowest:
S, A, B, C, D, E, and F.
Only those who awakened B-level and above were considered valuable.
E and F were basically trash.
The ceremony began.
One student after another placed their palms on the orb.
Flashes of light erupted constantly: blue for water, red for fire, green for wind.
"C-level Fire Elementalist!"
"C-level Earth!"
"D-level Wind!"
C-level wasn't rare, but it was already considered decent.
Still, the highest awakened so far was only C.
Evan leaned over and whispered, "Looks like no geniuses yet…"
Alex said nothing, but his brows tightened.
He didn't care about the others — he cared about whether he could awaken at all.
Elemental awakeners were the most common — fire, water, earth, wind.
Fusion series were rarer — ice, wood, lava, lightning.
Then there were Special-type abilities, anything that wasn't elemental and usually extremely rare.
The orb pulsed again.
A dazzling beam shot straight upward, bright as a spotlight piercing the sky.
The instructor's eyes widened.
"Special category ability! Grade… B-Level!"
Gasps erupted from the entire square.
"B-Level!?"
"Someone actually awakened B-Level!?"
"That's higher than everything we've seen in the past few years!"
The student on stage trembled with excitement, overwhelmed.
His name was Leonidas Frost, heir of the Frost Consortium — a wealthy second-generation young master whose family dominated the cold-storage, food-distribution, and monster-meat processing industries throughout Silverpine.
A smug grin spread across Leonidas's face as he bowed slightly toward the principal.
Up on the platform, Dean Reinhardt stroked his beard, clearly pleased.
"A B-Level special-type… excellent. We've been lacking strong talents these past years."
After all, the academy hadn't seen an A-Level awakening in ten years.
S-Level? That was the stuff of legends.
The line continued.
More awakenings flashed — some decent, some strange.
"E-Level… Horticulture."
"E-Level… Cooking Talent?"
"F-Level… Paper Manipulation?"
The crowd broke into laughter.
"Support class!"
"No combat ability at all!"
"So useless!"
"Haha!"
Those who awakened such abilities looked devastated, some nearly collapsing, others holding back tears.
Evan whispered, "Man… rough."
Alex frowned slightly. Even a strange support ability is better than awakening nothing…
Students became increasingly anxious as the ceremony progressed.
Their numbers were dwindling.
Evan swallowed hard. "We're almost up…"
Alex inhaled slowly.
His heartbeat was calm, but his mind wasn't.
I don't need something amazing…
Just let me awaken something. Anything.
The instructor on stage checked his tablet and suddenly raised his voice:
"Next student— Alex Blake!"
Alex stepped forward.