"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!"

"Y-Yes, Sir!"

The first student called was a young woman. Upon hearing her name, she immediately walked toward the podium, but perhaps due to her nervousness, she stumbled and fell.

However, no one laughed or made fun of her. On any other occasion, they might have, but today, they weren't sure they would perform any better than the student who had fallen.

The teacher, seemingly accustomed to such mishaps, waited patiently for her to get back on her feet and approach him.

When she finally reached him, he wasted no time and gestured toward the transparent orb on the table.

"This is your third time here, so you know what to do. Just place your hand on the awakening orb. If there's a reaction, it means you've successfully awakened. If there isn't…"

The teacher left his sentence unfinished but it made the hearts of the students on the podium sink.

Michael felt it too, though he handled it better than the others. Thanks to his mental age and the challenges he'd faced before he died from cancer in his previous life, he could keep his composure.

Michael's eyes were drawn to the awakening orb on the table between the teacher and the female student.

From what they had been taught in school, every Awakener, aside from gaining a class that granted them supernatural powers, also had the ability to connect their consciousness to another world—a world filled with treasures and could quickly enhance their prowess.

It was said that this world really resembled a game, though, in many ways, it was not.

The awakening orb itself originated from that mysterious world.

Just as the teacher had said, the girl didn't require any assistance. With a familiarity that made the corner of Michael's eyes twitch slightly, she placed both hands on the awakening orb and waited.

A few seconds passed, and just as the teacher was preparing to dismiss the disappointed girl—who looked like she might burst into tears at any moment—a white light suddenly shone from the orb.

Following that, a 'manifestation' in the form of twin swords appeared on her back before disappearing.

"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.