Chapter 2: The Application
Late at night, the restaurant where Leon worked had finally quieted down. Packing up some leftover meat from uneaten dishes, he planned to bring it home. In his family, with his parents' meager factory wages, meat was a rarity. Once home, he'd clean the food, reheat it, and share it with his younger brothers—a small treat to boost their nutrition.
By the time Leon got home, it was already past eleven. His parents were still awake, sitting in the modest living room. Hearing the door open, his mom immediately stood, dusting off his shirt and taking the container of food to the kitchen to clean it.
His father, James, gestured for Leon to sit down.
"Did your teacher hand out the application forms today?" he asked.
Leon nodded. "Yeah, here it is." He pulled out the form he had already filled out, leaving only the parental signature. His father took it and scanned the lines, his face solemn as he absorbed the details. Taking a deep breath, he lit a cigarette.
"Are you sure about this?"
Leon nodded firmly. "Yes, Dad. I've made up my mind."
Through the wisps of smoke, Leon could see his father's hand trembling slightly. This was a heavy moment. "Alright, son. You've got courage—I know you can succeed." His father clapped him on the shoulder, offering an encouraging smile. "Go on and get some rest. It's late."
Leon retreated to his room, quickly washed up, and lay down to sleep. As he closed his eyes, he could still hear the faint sound of his mother quietly crying in the next room. The Awakening was known to be dangerous, with a high risk of death. For every ten participants, at least three or four wouldn't make it. And out of those who survived, only one or two would gain the abilities needed to join the world of the Awakened.
For families like his, with little wealth or influence, this was their only way out. Success would change everything, but failure… meant there was nothing left. It was a life-or-death gamble. Yet for Leon, there was no choice. This was his one chance to change his life.
He exhaled slowly, cleared his mind, and let himself drift to sleep, determined to stay focused.
The next morning, Leon arrived at school early. When his homeroom teacher entered, he collected all the students' application forms, quickly sorting through them. After a long pause, the teacher looked up and spoke to the class.
"I see we have over forty students here who have chosen to apply for Awakening. Let's give them a round of applause!"
Applause filled the room. Some students were flushed with excitement, while others who hadn't applied looked around, visibly uncertain. Out of a class of nearly ninety, about half had signed up for this perilous path.
"Alright," said the teacher, clapping his hands. "Those of you who applied, stand up and follow me. Everyone else, stay in your seats."
He led the group to a new classroom, where Leon and his classmates would now study for the Awakening. Here, they would learn specialized knowledge and prepare physically, with courses on the basics of the Arcane Realm, survival tactics, and intense physical training. Meanwhile, those who chose to remain in their original classes would follow a standard curriculum, without these additional courses.
The process of awakening was both simple and complicated.
The simple part was that, as soon as these students came into contact with the aura of the Spirit Realm, they would quickly become infected by its influence. Shortly after, the Spirit Realm would open a rift in space and swallow them into its domain.
The complexity arose when one had to travel from Earth to the Spirit Realm, crossing endless stretches of space. This journey was fraught with danger, and many would lose their lives along the way within the space corridors.
Even upon arrival in the Spirit Realm, it didn't guarantee safety. Each new arrival would find themselves in a random location. They might land in a resource-rich area, surrounded by high-level resources and treasures, where they could amass fortunes. Or they might end up in a perilous zone, where dangerous creatures of the Spirit Realm were waiting to devour them on arrival.
Some of the unluckiest would even be teleported into the earth, into rocks, or even into volcanoes—dying the instant they landed. This randomness explained why the mortality rate for those awakening was so high.
As for Leon Grant and his classmates, their next lessons were focused on cramming them with survival knowledge about the Spirit Realm to increase their chances of survival.
While they were about to dive into the world of the Spirit Realm, their ability to retain and master all the information was limited. They could only learn the most basic survival knowledge and essential skills. Alongside theoretical knowledge, they also had intense physical training.
Surviving in the Spirit Realm wasn't a simple in-and-out task. Most people needed to survive for three to seven days within the Spirit Realm before they could return to Earth. This time spent in the hostile environment was crucial to their survival.
Physical fitness was a key aspect of the training. Besides ensuring that they wouldn't be sent to certain death, they would also need to find a safe place and hold onto their lives. The creatures within the Spirit Realm were numerous and terrifying, and even the most vicious criminals on Earth paled in comparison to the friendliest spirit beings in the Spirit Realm.
In the Spirit Realm, death didn't always mean an end. Some of the horrors that awaited in that world were far worse than death. Souls were mere playthings for some of the Spirit Realm's creatures, who derived pleasure from torturing both bodies and spirits.
For the awakening students, their fragile bodies were no match for the stronger entities that roamed the Spirit Realm.
…
The next few months for Leon and his classmates were a blur of intense and fast-paced learning. Their minds were packed with all sorts of knowledge about the Spirit Realm. Each morning was dedicated to theoretical lessons, while the afternoons were filled with physical training—running, sprinting, combat drills, and other exercises to enhance their strength and combat abilities.
Leon didn't take any part-time jobs during this period. The meals at the school cafeteria were packed with the nutrients he needed to replenish his body. His physique seemed to absorb everything like a sponge, taking in both knowledge and nourishment.
The physical training was grueling, but Leon could feel his body becoming stronger and more agile with each passing day. The muscles he had developed over the past few months not only gave him greater stamina but also a growing sense of confidence. The more he trained, the more prepared he felt to face the unknown dangers that awaited him in the Spirit Realm.
As the days passed, Leon could feel the awakening process drawing nearer. He had come a long way since his first steps into this strange new world. The knowledge and skills he was gaining were essential for surviving in a world that could swallow him whole at any moment.
He looked forward to the day when he would enter the Spirit Realm, knowing that while the risks were immense, his training had made him far more prepared than he had ever been before.