The auditorium hummed with nervous energy.
Three hundred eighteen-year-olds sat in neat rows, their eyes fixed on the massive crystalline structure at the center of the stage. The Awakening Stone pulsed with an ethereal blue light, casting dancing shadows across eager faces.
Kai Veyron sat near the back, his worn sneakers tapping against the floor. His school uniform was clean but faded from too many washes. Around him, other students whispered excitedly about the classes they might receive.
"I hope I get something combat-related," the girl in front of him said. "My brother got Berserker last year. B-rank! He's already Level 15."
"My dad says Mage classes are best for making money," her friend replied. "Guilds pay top dollar for elemental specialists."
Kai remained quiet. He'd learned long ago that kids from the Southside didn't get to dream as loudly as everyone else.
Twenty years ago, the System had arrived without warning. Dungeons tore through reality like wounds in space, spilling monsters into the world. Humanity had been on the brink of extinction until people started awakening—gaining classes, levels, and powers that allowed them to fight back.
Now, awakening at eighteen was mandatory. Your class determined everything: your future, your income, your worth.
"Kai Veyron!"
His name echoed through the auditorium. Kai stood, ignoring the way his hands trembled slightly. He walked down the aisle, acutely aware of hundreds of eyes tracking his every move.
Principal Zhao stood beside the Awakening Stone, her expression professionally neutral. She had overseen thousands of awakenings. To her, Kai was just another student, another statistic.
"Place your hand on the stone," she instructed.
Kai reached out. The crystal felt warm, almost alive. Energy surged up his arm—not painful but intense, like lightning racing through his veins.
The stone flared a brilliant white.
Then the light faded to a dull gray.
Kai's heart sank.
A translucent screen materialized in front of him, visible only to his eyes:
[ AWAKENING COMPLETE ]
[ Name: Kai Veyron ]
[ Age: 18 ]
[ Level: 1 ]
[ Class: SCAVENGER ]
[ Rank: Common ]
[ STATS: ]
[ Strength: 8 ]
[ Agility: 9 ]
[ Vitality: 7 ]
[ Intelligence: 10 ]
[ Wisdom: 8 ]
[ Luck: 12 ]
[ CLASS SKILLS: Salvage (Passive) ]
[ Slightly increased chance to find items in dungeons ]
Silence fell over the auditorium.
Then someone laughed.
"Scavenger? Seriously?"
"Oh my god, that's the trash class!"
"I didn't know people still got that!"
The whispers spread like wildfire. Kai's face burned. He had known his stats would be average—kids from poor families always had lower base stats due to factors like nutrition and stress during development—but Scavenger?
It was literally the worst class in the System.
Scavengers couldn't fight. They couldn't cast spells. They couldn't tank, heal, or do anything useful. Their only ability was to find slightly more loot in dungeons—loot that actual combat classes had to clear a path to reach.
They were professional bottom-feeders.
"Well," Principal Zhao said, her voice carefully neutral, "Scavenger is a… support class. You'll find your place, Mr. Veyron."
The pity in her eyes was worse than the mockery.
Kai walked back to his seat through a gauntlet of stares and barely suppressed laughter. He kept his eyes forward and his expression blank. He had had plenty of practice hiding his feelings.
"Tough break, Southside," someone muttered as he passed.
Kai didn't respond.
The ceremony continued. One by one, students approached the stone and received their classes.
Marcus Chen got Flame Berserker. A-rank. The auditorium erupted in applause. Marcus flexed, flames dancing across his knuckles, his grin wide and arrogant. He had been the school's star athlete before awakening. Now he would be insufferable.
"Looks like I'll be carrying trash like you through dungeons," Marcus called out, looking directly at Kai. "Better practice saying 'thank you,' Scavenger."
Laughter rippled through the crowd.
Sarah Kim got Frost Mage. B-rank. Respectable. She would probably be recruited by a mid-tier guild right out of school.
David Park got Knight. B-rank. A solid tank class. He pumped his fist in victory.
Then Zara Mills stepped up to the stone.
Kai sat up straighter. Zara lived three blocks from him in Southside. They had known each other since elementary school—not quite friends, but friendly. She had always been kind to him, even when others weren't.
The stone flared red-orange.
[ AWAKENING COMPLETE ]
[ Name: Zara Mills ]
[ Class: FLAME WARRIOR ]
[ Rank: B-Rank ]
The auditorium buzzed with approval. B-rank was excellent, especially for someone from Southside. Zara's eyes widened in shock, then filled with tears of joy.
As she walked back, she caught Kai's eye. Her expression flickered—happiness, then sympathy, then guilt.
She mouthed: "I'm sorry."
Kai forced a smile and nodded. He was happy for her. Really. Zara deserved good things.
The fact that she'd escape Southside while he'd be stuck there forever wasn't her fault.
The ceremony ended two hours later.
Students clustered in excited groups, comparing stats and skills. Guild recruiters had already descended on the A-ranks and high B-ranks, offering contracts and signing bonuses.
Kai slipped out a side door.
The evening air was cool against his flushed face. He walked across the empty parking lot, hands shoved deep in his pockets. The sun was setting, painting the sky in shades of orange and purple.
Scavenger.
Of all the classes in the System—hundreds of them, from common to legendary—he'd gotten the one that was literally a joke. There were forum threads dedicated to mocking Scavengers. Memes. Comedy sketches.
His phone buzzed. A message from his mom:
How did it go, sweetie?
Kai stared at the screen. His mom worked three jobs to keep their tiny apartment. She'd been so excited about his awakening, so hopeful that he'd get something good, something that would let him help support them.
He typed: Fine. Got a support class. Will tell you more when I get home, Mom.
Not a lie. Just... incomplete.
He pocketed the phone and kept walking.
The school's dungeon training facility loomed ahead—a massive building where students would learn to fight starting tomorrow. Kai had been excited about it for months.
Now? What was the point? Scavengers didn't fight. They picked through the scraps after real hunters did the work.
"Yo, Scavenger!"
Kai's shoulders tensed. He didn't turn around.
Footsteps approached. Marcus Chen, flanked by two of his friends, both B-rank from the ceremony.
"Where are you going?" Marcus asked, his voice dripping with false friendliness. "Don't you want to celebrate with everyone?"
"I'm heading home," Kai said quietly.
"Home? To Southside?" Marcus laughed. "Makes sense. That's where trash belongs, right?"
His friends snickered.
Kai's jaw clenched. He started walking.
Marcus grabbed his shoulder, spinning him around. The bigger boy's eyes gleamed with malice. "I'm talking to you, Scavenger. It's rude to walk away."
"Let go," Kai said.
"Or what?" Marcus's hand heated up, flames licking across his palm. Not enough to burn through Kai's uniform, but enough to make him feel the heat.
"You gonna fight me? With your trash-tier class?"
Kai met his eyes. "I'm not going to fight you, Marcus. You're not worth it."
For a moment, genuine anger flashed across Marcus's face. Then he laughed and shoved Kai backward.
"You're right. You're not even worth the experience points. Get lost, Scavenger. Try not to embarrass our school too much while you're begging guilds for scraps."
They turned and walked away, their laughter echoing across the parking lot.
Kai stood there for a long moment, his fists clenched tightly. His nails dug into his palms.
After exhaling slowly, he continued walking.
The training facility was supposed to be locked after hours, but Kai knew that the side entrance had a broken lock. He slipped inside, seeking a quiet place to think.
The main training hall was massive—easily the size of a football field. Combat dummies lined one wall, and training weapons hung on racks. Obstacle courses and practice arenas filled the space.
Tomorrow, this place will be packed with students learning to harness their new powers.
Kai walked to the center of the empty hall, and his footsteps echoed off the walls.
He pulled up his status screen once more, hoping he had misread it.
[ Name: Kai Veyron ]
[ Level: 1 ]
[ Class: SCAVENGER ]
[ Rank: Common ]
[ STATS: ]
[ Strength: 8 ]
[ Agility: 9 ]
[ Vitality: 7 ]
[ Intelligence: 10 ]
[ Wisdom: 8 ]
[ Luck: 12 ]
[ CLASS SKILLS: • Salvage (Passive) ]
Kai dismissed the screen and sat down on the polished floor, drawing his knees up and resting his forehead against them.
He had dreams—stupid dreams, maybe, but dreams nonetheless. He had imagined getting a decent combat class—nothing fancy, just something respectable. He envisioned leveling up, becoming strong enough to support his mom, and maybe even moving them out of Southside.
Now? Now, he would be lucky to get hired as a porter, carrying supplies for real hunters.
"This is ridiculous," he muttered to the empty hall.
Suddenly, the lights flickered.
Kai looked up, frowning. The facility's lights were supposed to operate on automatic timers, but they had never flickered before.
They flickered again.
Then, his status screen reappeared, but it was glitching—the text scrambled and reformed in a chaotic manner.
Name: K̴a̷i̶ ̸V̵e̶y̷r̷o̷n̴ ]
[ Level: 1 ]
[ Class: S̷̢̃C̶̣̈A̷̰̽V̶̙̈́E̶̳͝N̶̰̅G̷̣̈́E̶̦̊R̷̰̈́ ]
[ Rank: C̶̣̈o̷̰̽m̶̙̈́m̶̰̅ọ̷̈́n̶̦̊ ]
[ Ḛ̷̈́R̷̰̈́R̷̰̈́Ö̷̰́R̷̰̈ ]
[ STATS: ]
[ S̷̰̈́Ÿ̷̰́S̷̰̈́T̷̰̈́Ḛ̷̈́M̷̰̈́ ̷̰̈́M̷̰̈́Ä̷̰́L̷̰̈́F̷̰̈́Ṵ̷̈́N̷̰̈́C̷̰̈́T̷̰̈́Ḭ̷̈́Ö̷̰́N̷̰̈́ ̷̰̈́D̷̰̈́Ḛ̷̈́T̷̰̈́Ḛ̷̈́C̷̰̈́T̷̰̈́Ḛ̷̈́D̷̰̈́ ]
[ R̷̰̈́Ḛ̷̈́C̷̰̈́Ä̷̰́L̷̰̈́Ḭ̷̈́B̷̰̈́R̷̰̈́Ä̷̰́T̷̰̈́Ḭ̷̈́N̷̰̈́G̷̰̈́ ]
"What the—"
The screen shattered into a burst of light. Kai jerked backward, his heart racing.
The fragments swirled around him like a digital storm, spinning faster and faster until they merged into something new.
A different screen appeared.
This one was black instead of blue, with text glowing in an eerie crimson.
[ SYSTEM ERROR DETECTED ]
[ STANDARD AWAKENING PROTOCOL: ]
[ CORRUPTED ]
[ INITIATING EMERGENCY OVERRIDE... ]
[ SCANNING HOST COMPATIBILITY... ]
[ ......26%....67%...100% ]
[ COMPATIBILITY: INFINITE ]
[ ACTIVATING HIDDEN PROTOCOL... ]
[ METAMORPHOSIS SYSTEM ]
[ ACTIVATED ]
[ "Evolution has no limits." ]
[Your true awakening begins now.
What you were given was a shell.
What you will become is infinite.]
[ACCEPT] / [REJECT] ]
[ WARNING: Rejection will result in a permanent class lock. ]
Kai stared at the screen, his mind racing.
This wasn't normal. This wasn't part of the standard awakening process. He had researched everything about the System for years—there was no "Metamorphosis System." No hidden protocols. No secondary awakenings.
Was this a glitch? A virus? Some prank?
But the warning was clear: reject it, and he would be stuck as a Scavenger forever.
Accept it, and... what? What did "infinite evolution" even mean?
His hand hovered over the [REJECT] button.
Then he thought about Marcus's mocking laughter, Principal Zhao's pitying eyes, and the way Zara had looked at him with guilt and sympathy.
He thought about his mom, who worked herself to exhaustion.
He thought about spending the rest of his life as a joke, as trash, as someone who didn't matter.
Kai's jaw set.
"Fuck it."
He pressed [ACCEPT].
The black screen flashed brilliant gold. Energy exploded through Kai's body—not painfully, but overwhelming, as if every cell was being rewritten. He gasped, falling to his knees.
The world spun.
Then everything went still.
New text appeared:
[ METAMORPHOSIS SYSTEM ]
[....67%...100%]
[ INTEGRATION COMPLETE ]
[ Your journey begins. ]
[ Current Status: HIDDEN ]
[ True Power: LOCKED ]
[ To unlock your potential, you must evolve. ]
[ Enter a dungeon to begin. ]
[System functions will activate ]
[ upon first combat encounter]
The screen disappeared.
Kai knelt on the training hall floor, breathing heavily. His regular status screen reappeared, still showing him as a Level 1 Scavenger, as if nothing had changed.
But something had changed. He could feel it thrumming beneath his skin like a second heartbeat.
He didn't understand what the Metamorphosis System was.
He didn't grasp the meaning of "infinite evolution."
But for the first time since the awakening ceremony, Kai smiled.
Maybe he wasn't worthless after all.
Maybe he was something entirely different—something the world had never seen before.