Chapter 1: Class Awakening

"All of you, this is your last awakening ceremony. If you still fail to awaken, prepare to live the rest of your life as an ordinary human and attend a normal university. You can also try to improve your cultivation in these last few months to increase your chances of entering an Academy."

The teacher's voice echoed across the room as several students stood before him, listening attentively, their expressions a mix of anxiety and hope.

Among these students was Michael.

Michael was not from this world. He had arrived in this body just three weeks ago, a body that coincidentally shared his name.

Unlike his original world, in this one, everyone between the ages of 16 and 18 had a chance to awaken a class.

More than two hundred years ago, the apocalypse descended upon this world, bringing spatial rifts that spawned countless monsters and unleashed chaos.

Fortunately, following the apocalypse, the world became digitised for a select few who would later be known as Awakeners.

Thanks to these Awakeners, whose classes granted them incredible powers, the apocalypse ended after decades, and humanity finally reclaimed their land.

When peace returned, as expected, Awakeners became figures of importance, and it became a dream for young people aged 16 to 18 to become one.

However, becoming an Awakener was a privilege granted to only a few, and for this group of 18-year-old students, this was their last chance.

Michael was nervous too. Though he had only been in this world for three weeks, he understood the significance of this ceremony.

While it wasn't as though all hope would be lost if he failed to awaken, it was undeniable that no path held more promise than becoming an Awakener.

Under the nervous gaze of nearly a hundred students below the podium, the teacher picked up a file from the table in front of him and began to call out names.

"Lilian Stone!"

"Lilian Stone has successfully awakened a class, Martial Artist!" the teacher announced, his voice filled with surprise, and his previously expressionless face showing clear astonishment.

For this group of 18-year-olds, he hadn't expected any of them to awaken. But to think that the very first student called up would do so filled him with considerable surprise. It was well known that the best age to awaken a class was 16, as that was when the chances were highest. The older one got, the less likely awakening became.

When the students heard the teacher's announcement, the previously quiet hall erupted with noise.

"Wow, Lilian actually awakened?"

"First come, first served?"

"Damn."

"Tsk, to think the fourth to the last dumbest person in all of Class 3 would awaken."

"You do know that awakening successfully doesn't necessarily have anything to do with intelligence, right?"

"Shut up! Of course, I know! Can't I just be bitter for a minute? What happened to my freedom to be negative?!"

Like his fellow classmates, Michael was pleasantly surprised that the first student to step onto the podium had awakened. It was common knowledge that their group had almost no hope of awakening, so seeing someone succeed lifted everyone's spirits and filled them with a renewed sense of hope.

However, that newly lit hope was quickly shattered.

"Mia Keem, awakening failed!"

"Bruce Leen, awakening failed!"

Then the fourth, the fifth, all the way up to the forty-eighth—every student who stepped up to the podium failed to awaken, except for the first female student.

The entire hall felt as silent as a graveyard, save for the quiet sobs of those who had failed their awakening.