Kapitel 2: Chapter 2 Huh, Why Didn't Awaken?

Ye Nai complied with a nod and stepped onto the grand stage. She first signed in again with the military officer responsible for record-keeping on the Awakening Platform and then walked up to the Awakening Stone. Taking a deep breath, she covered the stone with her hands.

The Awakening Stone was icy to the touch, quickly drawing away warmth. Ye Nai could even feel the heat of her nervous palms being cooled, and then a faint but noticeable coolness traveled from her palms up her arms and into her body, pausing briefly below her navel at the dantian before exiting the same way it had come in. After that, there was no response.

Ye Nai was stupefied, standing there in a daze.

Hadn't she awakened?

Why was there no color?!

"No awakening, next please."

The officer's voice jolted her. She lingered a few seconds, still unaccepting, but with no reaction forthcoming and under repeated urging, she descended, disheartened.

On her way back to class, Ye Nai tried to mobilize the power within her body and easily released a small puff of spores from the center of her palm.

The tiny spores, invisible to the naked eye, caught no one's attention, not even the soldiers nearby who showed no reaction at all. The spores danced gracefully in the air for a moment, finding no place to take root, before returning to Ye Nai's body.

Ye Nai: "..."

Now the fun really started.

Fortunately, her idea to keep her abilities a secret for now, in order to surprise her family, unexpectedly saved her.

Without official recognition of her awakening, she wasn't recognized as an Awakener. Her family didn't know about what was happening with her, so that saved her from explosive arguments.

Such disappointing incidents were common talk in the housing estate where she lived; how the individuals involved felt was unknown to others, but they would surely suggest hysterics or something of the sort—there were no kind words, regardless.

Ye Nai returned to her class queue where a group of students who had not awakened were comforting one another.

The two classmates who had awakened stood aside with smug expressions, clutching their freshly printed awakening certificates, mocking the others, saying grouping together wouldn't change anything.

"So pitiful, a bunch of Ordinary folks, the most valuable thing in your lives will probably be your children, huh? Hopefully, you have plenty to sustain the nation's population."

"Hahaha, hope you'll treat your kids better, and don't complain about living expenses as soon as they come of age."

"Both of your awakenings are combat superpowers, which means you'll be entering the Plane Channel to fight. It's unpredictable in there. Wishing you both a long and healthy life."

Ye Nai retorted icily, refusing to offer a kind face to those with venomous tongues. The awakening certificates in their hands were even more irritating to her, and she couldn't understand why, although she had clearly awakened, the Awakening Stone had shown no reaction.

"Yeah, yeah, work hard, you guys. We Ordinary folks are entrusting our lives to your safety."

"Hope you put in a good effort and find partners who have also awakened in the future. Don't lower your standards, keep it up."

"Combat superpower or not, it's not like the military recruited you on the spot. You'll probably have to join private squads in the future. Hope your bosses aren't too exploitative, huh?"

The other students joined in, their well-wishing masking sarcasm, successfully embarrassing those two until they left in a huff.

No one felt they said anything wrong. These were just objective facts. So what if you awakened? Survive and climb to the top of the social ladder before boasting. Otherwise, you're just the base of the Awakener pyramid, or even its ashes.

During their casual waiting, Class Three also finished, performing worse than the first two classes, with only three people Awakening.

The class teacher led the team out of the auditorium, congratulated the students who had Awakened, consoled those who hadn't, and then told the Awakened students to go home first.

The remaining students stood in two rows to listen to the class teacher's lecture.

"You all know what I'm going to say, so I'll keep it short. Discuss with your parents when you get back; those who want to continue their studies should come to me for the college entrance examination form. Even those not pursuing further education need to fill out the form and then wait for the school to notify you to collect your graduation certificate. For those who need to earn money but can't find a job, don't forget to sign up for the school's hazardous waste clean-up squad. With someone leading you, it will be much safer, and with the experience, you'll know how to go about it on your own in the future."

There was a buzz of discussion among the students; indeed, this was the same old story every year. It was tough to advance academically, and apart from the Awakeners and top students, the majority would enter society after finishing high school.

The school organized teams to do waste clear-up, which helped alleviate the anxiety of young people eager to earn money, so they wouldn't be berated by their parents for being idle.

The waste clear-up was the result of the Otherworld invasion.

The enemies on the homeland were driven back through the Plane Channel, leaving behind old battlefields and trash scattered across the country, which significantly damaged the ecosystem.

Blue Star's environment couldn't digest those filthy substances. Over time, they turned into areas of high pollution, high disease risk, and high contagion. If marked on a map, it looked as if the land had developed bald spots.

There were too many of them, and they were mostly clustered around the Plane Channel, which the government uniformly designated as hazardous zones.

The hazardous zones wasted vast tracts of land, leading to insufficient agricultural and industrial production. The tertiary sector suffered as well, resulting in a scarcity of jobs, making life difficult for Ordinary people and reducing the average lifespan to just over fifty and shy of sixty years.

However, these wastes now provided a guaranteed job for the entire society. Ordinary people unable to find work and Awakeners whose superpower development was poor could make a living by cleaning up these areas as long as they weren't afraid of dying, with more work leading to more pay, settled daily.

Not continuing with studies, unable to secure a job through family connections, without any particular skills, and in urgent need of money, joining the school clean-up squad was truly the best solution. This had even become a common practice in high schools nationwide, euphemistically referred to as "sending off the students on their last journey."

After the class teacher finished the lecture, the assembly was dismissed.

Ye Nai walked with three other girls who were headed in the same direction. The four of them strolled to the vegetable market to buy ingredients to cook at home, as girls of their age were all accustomed to doing household chores from a young age.

After purchasing bean sprouts, tofu, and potato dumpling skins, Ye Nai also bought three pounds of pork ribs, which made the three classmates envious.

"Ye Nai, buying so much meat today? Is there a special occasion at home?"

"No, this is my last subsidy payment. My mom allowed me to have a good meal."

The state issued subsidies to minors on the first day of each month, and this April 5th was her 18th birthday as well as the last subsidy payment she would receive from the government. Indeed, it was her parents who had given her the money last night so she could buy more meat today.

Meat was expensive these days, especially farmed meat. Out of chicken, duck, and fish, only chicken and eggs were relatively affordable. The primary source of protein for most households was chicken and eggs, with poorer ones eating less meaty parts like wingtips, feet, and necks. It was rare to have red meat or seafood even once a month.

Therefore, it was no wonder the classmates envied Ye Nai for buying ribs.

"Your parents are really good to you."

"They're alright."

Ye Nai didn't look particularly happy; family matters were known only to those inside the family.

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