Awakeners were broadly divided into four categories and constituted about twenty percent of the entire human population: Natural awakeners, artificial awakeners, aberrants, and pre-awakeners.
The natural awakeners were of course the cream of the crop, the gods chosen, and the pinnacle of human potential and ability, they were existences that were revered and acknowledged by many across the cosmos. It wasn't as if every natural awakener was suddenly capable of taking on civilizations on their own, far from it, fresh awakeners regardless of the method of enlightenment lived on a similar power scale, but it was the potential and the ceiling restricting the awakeners that set them apart.
Then there were artificial awakeners, people who just barely managed to eke out on the bright side of history through the power of money and human technology. Artificially stimulating the bloodline enough to trigger the microbots in the bloodline was an arduous and dangerous process for all parties concerned, for the energy contained in the human blood, how insignificant it might be, could cause a chain reaction with the various other traces of bloodlines in the system and be catastrophic for not just the patient undergoing the procedure but anyone even remotely in their vicinity.
The aberrants could never be conclusively judged as mediocre, for they were people who, though in possession of abilities far beyond the mortal flesh, somehow don't manage to trigger the microbots and thus find it harder to progress as an awakener. However, that is not to say that greatness and valor lies beyond their grasp, for many of the strongest human combatants had been aberrants who thrived regardless of their perilous circumstances and reshaped the very essence of what it meant to be an awakener.
Finally, the weird ones in the group, pre-awakeners, the underbelly of the awakener world. The people who technically initiated the phenomenon of enlightenment in all meanings of the word but failed to trigger the microbots because of no other reason than their minuscule strength. The pre-awakeners were able to perform simple miracles such as lighting up a candle without a fire or crumbling a paper without any physical contact, but that was the extent of their abilities and all that they were meant to be. Pre-awakeners make up the majority of the awakener population, but they were treated no different than your usual every day failed awakener.
If one were to place them on a hierarchical ladder, then it would be natural awakeners at the top of the grandest establishment, aberrants and the artificials sharing the same congested but breathable space, and the pre-awakeners scavenging for food in dumpsters.
When one naturally engages with their latent foreign bloodline, they trigger the dormant microbots implanted in the bloodstream. The said bots react with the energy released by the phenomenon and activate. They utilize a negligible amount of the host's energy to sustain their existence thereafter.
These bots were a marvel of technology and represented the pinnacle of human creation, improved and reinvented to perfection in all aspects, so much so that every human child born under the shade of the enormous umbrella of human civilization was mandated to be injected with them regardless of their background, completely free of charge and at the expense of the overarching human rulership.
The microbots were programmed to analyze, inspect, and quantify the changes in the body and effects of the bloodline, display them directly to the awakener's brain efficiently and simply so that no matter where in the vast human territory the new and clueless awakener hails from, they could better navigate their fulfilling life forward, hence, the information window.
The existence of these foreign objects with extraordinarily advanced technology lying dormant inside every human gave rise to legitimate privacy concerns. However, the rulership had proved multiple times with patience and understanding that the bots were for the sole purpose of human prosperity and growth, and carried no surveillance capabilities whatsoever. They went as far as to make some of the intricacies regarding the technology public, just so that the non-existent privacy or health concerns wouldn't inhibit and prevent anyone from a proper and controlled awakening.
Generally, a natural awakening can occur anytime from early childhood to puberty, with most individuals getting a dose of the microbot magic between ages four and twelve, however, a very rare few have been recorded to awaken as late as fifteen. In most cases, if one fails to trigger the bots by 15, they are officially declared a failed awakener, and those disgruntled by this revelation can use immense resources to undergo the artificial awakening procedure.
There was a prominent rumor amongst the supernatural communities that later a human awakens, the more potent their bloodline and the more absurd their talents, for it would require a stronger and more mature frame to unleash them completely. However, the scarcity of such cases made this an urban legend and an excuse for the failed awakenings of prominent family scions. The microbots were necessitated by UCHDP and were a staple for the current human civilization, a cornerstone. They were constructed in such a manner that their structural integrity would begin to deteriorate after fifteen years in the human body and continue to do so until all the microbots were flushed out of the body by twenty-five or so.
In the first arc of The Vow for Interstellar Supremacy, Aelric woke up as a seven-year-old in a concealed countryside village in the Manel County of the Solaris Empire, a domain renowned throughout Lyraxia Prime as one of the best producers of alcohol and other legal hallucinogens. The village was located in a mountain range rich in aether energy, the energy that sustains and fuels human development and bloodline abilities, named after Aether Terrion, the man who discovered the energy and an integral part of the team that led the bloodline experiments those many years ago.
The village was inhabited by special children selected through a meticulous process by a certain organization and the children's guardians. These children were confirmed to carry strong bloodlines and were expected to awaken naturally, the technology used to determine that fact, while not legal, was extremely innovative. The children were isolated from the rest of the world and were trained thoroughly by veteran fighters and prestigious scholars to become elite awakeners and warriors for the organization.
Aelric had found himself in such an environment as soon as he was transmigrated, and was a target of bullying throughout his childhood, pretty ironic considering his circumstances pre-reincarnation. The thing was, others around him had activated their bloodlines and had obtained power well beyond mortal comprehension, and Aelric, being older and one of the star pupils of the organization early on, had failed to do so, and as such he was under harsh scrutiny from not just the children but from everyone around him.
As Aelric grew older and more children around him awakened, fulfilling the dreams of their guardians and the organization, the expectations and trust placed upon him visibly diminished, and at a certain point, completely dried up. Aelric was fifteen years old when he awakened, a year or so after he was declared mediocre, shunned by everybody around him including his family, and was exiled from the village to fend for himself.
Aelric spent the year in the streets of Manel County, struggling to see another day, and survived through sheer tenacity and spite. His perseverance bore fruit when he finally awakened on the steps of the afterlife following a negotiation gone violent with some homeless thugs. Aelric triggered the bots latent in his blood and the system, a gift of the entity that had allowed him to reincarnate, alongside it. The system helped Aelric get on his feet as an awakener, it provided him with quests and challenges alongside incentives and rewards to propel him in his journey as a powerhouse.
A few months post-enlightenment, Aelric had made a little bit of a name for himself among the low-grade awakeners in Manel County, he competed in illegal fights for money, engaged in mercenary work to complete system quests, and joined a small-time awakener gang for protection.
During one of his gang assignments, he came in direct contact with a certain powerful yet mysterious awakener traveling incognito, unfortunately, Aelric's gang had chosen the wrong target for a robbery. His gang was annihilated to the last man, but Aelric was spared and subsequently adopted by that very awakener because of his immense talent, and this awakener trained Aelric for two years before sending him to Singularity Academy, where he would meet Aldred.
"Aelric should be coming to the class tomorrow, and many other side characters will be joining during this week as well."
Triton couldn't help but feel nervous, for he was about to meet some of his favorite characters in person. While his situation left him confused and helpless, it was still his favorite property, and the prospect of being able to experience the story as not just a reader but as an active part of the narrative sent a shiver of excitement through his spine.
"A pity my favorite girl won't show up until much later." Triton chuckled to himself as he leaned against the sink with his posterior. "Carlos would've been thrilled to be here though, Livine should be on her way to the capital."
Triton lost himself in his delusions as he started listing all of the events in the story that he wished to spectate for himself now that he was a part of the crew, but stopped as he realized the nature and severity of his situation.
"The crazy information window aside, I have no clue what to do now. I have zero idea how to use these abilities and activate the artifacts, and this guy Aldred seems to be way more than what was advertised, and not in a good way." Triton gave a once-over to his body covered with priceless garb.
"Also the name…" Triton glanced at the name being displayed on the status screen, his eyes once again moved across the class, bloodline, and equipment sections, each one drawing a string of defeated groans from his soul. "Vorlan-Blackcrest? Where have I hea- Haa~ Never mind, I don't have the brain cells for this right now, I should get back to class, I'll take all of this on when I am alone."
Triton sighed and massaged his temple which had begun to sting because of the constant frown. He grabbed the handkerchief tucked away in his pocket and wiped away any traces of water on his body. Triton retrieved his phone to look at the time.
"Just an hour of class left, so let's just get this over with and go back to Aldred's place to tackle all of this." Triton looked into the mirror and fixed any inconsistencies with his appearance, for Aldred was written to be a very disciplined and neat man who rarely if at all revealed a sloppy appearance.
"I have to act like Aldred as well, that stunt before might be brushed off as a one-time thing, but any more bullshit and it might come back to bite me." Triton slapped his cheeks as he looked at his reflection in the mirror. "Don't speak unless spoken to, which I doubt will happen as long as I can act as intimidating as Aldred is supposed to be."
Aldred Allister in the story was an inherently cold character whose every word was worth its weight in gold. Aldred wasn't cartoonishly antagonistic just for the sake of being evil, in fact, from some perspectives, it would be more accurate to say that it was Aelric who provoked Aldred on multiple occasions to get a rise out of him. Aelric had entered the academy for no reason other than to use it as a stepping stone to further his awakener career, and the mentality and strength he had developed from harsh conditions and practically hellish training under his master had left him quite self-important and some might say arrogant.
Aldred was stronger than Aelric, and for someone whose entire personality and ego at this time were built and thrived upon being someone who suffered tremendously for years to gain the strength he possessed, and had never tasted defeat by anyone in his generation, Aldred's existence was a thorn in his side and pricked at his conscience. Aelric wasn't a perfect human being, far from it, but that's what made him relatable, believable, and someone a reader could root for in the long run.
Triton straightened his expression and let his eyelids droop as if indifferent to anything around him, but failed miserably and frowned at his appearance reflected in the super-sized mirror.
"Haa~" Triton couldn't help but leak the umpteenth sigh of the day, exasperated at his circumstances. He tidied up and finally took a step towards the exit of the bathroom that had suspiciously been empty for the long time Triton had used it as a house.