Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!
Neo felt like he had just laid down to sleep before his alarm clock began ringing once again.
He ignored the incessant ringing and played dead for another good thirty minutes before finding enough motivational quotes in his memory to convince himself to wake up.
Neo was so sleepy that his body felt as though it were dipped in lead, but he soldiered through the exhaustion and sat up.
'No pain, no gain, man!'
Standing up from his bed, Neo marvelled at how good it felt to wake up without feeling any form of pain for the first time.
He spread his arms wide and inhaled deeply, a smile on his face.
It felt so nice...
He felt so free...
Neo's stupid smile lasted for only a second and a half before the thought of his curse of bad luck entered his mind once again.
At once, his face morphed into a gloomy expression, and all the happiness he had been radiating evaporated into nothingness.
Neo stood straight in his one-room apartment and looked around briefly, before abruptly pausing.
He didn't know why he was just about to give his room a detailed look this morning—perhaps to give his readers a quick scene check before moving on...
On second thought, Neo decided not to do it.
There was nothing to see anyway, and it wasn't as if something new would magically sprout in the room he had been using for five years straight...
Shaking his head at his own antics, Neo took off his pyjamas and carefully folded them. After that, he went straight to his bathroom to freshen up.
Today was a Saturday, so there was no school for the day or the next.
He was powering on his teeth cleanser when he casually glanced at the mirror before him.
And then he saw it...
Neo's jaw hit the floor with a soft thud. His eyes bulged so much they looked like circles.
Huge, white circles with dazzling purple pupils.
"Holy f*ck!" Neo gasped. "I have pupils!"
He couldn't believe what he was seeing right now. He actually had pupils in his eyes.
Pupils!
He was no longer a pupil-less freak of nature that creeped out all the girls with his gaze! He could now give them a normal stare without them flinching or looking away fearfully!
Even better, he could no longer stare at girls' butts as they passed while pretending he wasn't looking!
Wait, that was not better! Not good at all!
Still, his handsomeness more than made up for it.
Neo was overjoyed.
His hair had even turned purple!
He was beginning to lean more and more towards liking whatever it was he had become.
First, it cancelled the pain in his chest. Then it gave him so much strength, comparable to a normal adult mortal. Now it had even given him pupils?
And ones so dazzling?
Neo's purple eyes were deep and mysterious, like the starry night. They held a bewitching yet piercing quality that was simply mesmerising.
Neo's looks had gone from being a six and a half to a solid ten. A full ten!
After staring dumbstruck at his eyes for minutes, he finally tore his gaze away from his own face.
"What a way to start the day," he murmured, feeling hopeful about the day ahead, before powering on the teeth cleansing device.
If anything, at least the sugar mummy option was now available...
______
"Today sucks."
Neo scanned the Personal System at the Spirit Compatibility Centre with a deep frown on his face.
He had just finished his affinity test and soul tier test. The results were... not that good, to put it mildly.
Actually, he was a bit confused about what to feel.
First off, Neo discovered he had no affinity.
His dreams of casting terrifying lightning spells in his lightning domain were killed and buried on the spot.
As a kid, he had always wanted to be a lightning spiritual when he grew older, but seeing as he couldn't host any lightning spirit without exploding, he had to let those dreams explode instead...
Second, Neo's soul tier was still undeterminable.
The machines at the compatibility centre had tried and failed to grade his soul numerous times. All the device could detect was that his soul space was indeed now open and that the soul stability was more than that of a tier 4 soul, which was actually awesome news.
It was just that Neo had a bad feeling about not knowing what his soul tier was.
Why was he so different?
When the first fusion began and the spirit realm descended, humanity had tried countless methods to harness the mysterious Spirit Energy found in this realm.
They had failed over and over until they finally discovered spirits.
What were spirits? Spirits were half life forms created gradually in a location dense with a specific elemental spirit energy over a period of time.
Upon fusing and hosting these spirits, one would be able to wield their elements and cast powerful spells, essentially turning one into a Spiritual.
The more powerful the Spirit, the more pressure it would put on the host's soul space after fusion.
So a system was created to classify the soul spaces of humans and their stability, which would determine the grade of spirits they could fuse with.
Tier 1 Souls were considered the trash of society, and unless one really worked like crazy, one was doomed to be at the bottom of the pyramid.
Next were the tier 2 souls, which meant one had average soul talent. Tier 3 souls made one a talent, and if one were to put in the work, one could definitely become great in life.
Next were the tier 4 souls. These were the rare geniuses with great potential. After this tier were the tier 5 souls...
Anyone with this soul tier would be called a Scion of Humanity. It was a prestigious title given to the top geniuses.
But after that tier was the last tier: the tier 6 souls.
They were called the Hopes of Humanity. Their title alone showed how rare they were.
One can understand why Neo was so frustrated at not knowing what his soul tier was. If it had been confirmed to be even a tier 5 soul, finding a sponsor from one of those big companies would have been easy.
It was like the world just wanted to make his life hard...
After receiving the document containing his certificate, Neo paid the fee of three credits before leaving the centre.
He had already ordered the spear manual and footwork manual from the Empire Enterprise website, so he was heading home to receive the package.
Of course, he was now a proud Earth citizen with zero credits in his account.
As Neo made his way down the streets, his chest couldn't help but puff out slightly with pride. Girls were gawking at him and staring at him with such fiery gazes and red faces that it seemed like they were barely stopping themselves.
Sure enough, now that his eyes had pupils, his charm was beginning to surface. Neo enjoyed the gazes of the girls all around him as he sauntered forward.
His legs suddenly tangled, and he tripped, falling flat on his face.
'Fuck me!'