Huo Ling

(Brain storage area: leave your brain behind and have no worries.)

In Stone Creek City, at Stone Creek No. 3 High School, a boy with slightly tanned skin sat by a classroom window, one hand propping up his chin. This was Huo Ling, and he was currently watching the chaotic classroom with a sense of boredom.

It was already the start of his senior year. The students, having just returned from break, were still suffering from holiday syndrome and had no real sense that school had actually begun.

"What did you do over the break, man? You got so tan."

After messing around with other classmates, his desk-mate returned to his seat, looked Huo Ling over, and asked in surprise.

"I went to lay bricks..."

Huo Ling's family wasn't well-off. His parents were ordinary factory workers, and he had two younger brothers; it was already a struggle for his parents' meager wages to support a family of five.

During the break, Huo Ling, now a senior, had found work as a laborer at a construction site to earn some money to help out at home.

"You actually laid bricks?!"

"What else? Look at these well-developed muscles."

As he spoke, Huo Ling pulled up his sleeve and flexed his arm to show off the results of a summer spent laying bricks. Muscles bulged with the effort.

"Impressive!"

His desk-mate poked Huo Ling's arm, unable to hide his envy.

"Do you know where I went over the break?"

The desk-mate then leaned in and whispered.

"Where'd you go?"

Huo Ling leaned back against the desk behind him, his body relaxed, eyes slightly narrowed as he asked with a lazy expression.

Whenever this guy puckered his butt, Huo Ling knew whether he was about to fart or take a dump.

It was obvious he was preparing to show off. If Huo Ling didn't listen, this kid would be as uncomfortable as someone suffering from constipation after three days of holding it in.

"My dad signed me up for a wilderness survival course. I trained for a month, and I feel like I'm incredibly strong now!"

His desk-mate grinned wide, his words filled with pride.

"So you're getting ready to head to the Spirit Realm, then."

Huo Ling shifted his posture, leaning his body against the wall, and propped his head up with one hand to tease him.

"You know it! Once I succeed in Spirit Awakening, I'll be your big brother, and I'll definitely have your back!"

His desk-mate waved a hand, looking high-spirited.

"Sure, I'll be waiting..."

"What about you? You've got to prepare for Spirit Awakening this year too. Want to go together?" his desk-mate asked.

"Me? We'll see..."

Huo Ling replied with his eyes closed, sounding somewhat perfunctory.

As his eyes shut, his thoughts began to drift.

Spirit Awakening was a new term that had only appeared on Blue Star in the last three hundred years.

More than three centuries ago, the world was a desert of the supernatural, commonly known as a world of the end of magic, where great power belonged to the collective.

But with the arrival of an accident, the world underwent a massive transformation.

Blue Star had been captured by the Spirit Realm!

The Spirit Realm was a vast, boundless world where the supernatural manifested. As Blue Star drew closer to the Spirit Realm, the supernatural elements within it began to tilt toward Blue Star. Just like water flowing to a lower place, a constant stream of supernatural elements poured into Blue Star.

Not only that, but spatial rifts and planar passages appeared from time to time, all of which could lead humans to the Spirit Realm.

Of course, creatures from the Spirit Realm could also cross over to Blue Star.

For Blue Star, this was both a revolution and a catastrophe. The Spirit Realm was filled with supernatural beings, and it was no easy feat for the mortals of Blue Star to resist them with their own military might.

Fortunately, the great will of the Spirit Realm was benevolent toward the arrival of a new world, and the various supernatural legacies contained within the Spirit Realm entered Blue Star along with it.

Just like that, with the help of technology and the gradually emerging supernatural powers, the people of Blue Star managed to defend their home and began to explore the Spirit Realm.

Spirit Awakening was invented by the sages during this time. Blue Star had once been a supernatural desert; everything here was mundane.

Although the supernatural factors of the Spirit Realm had permeated the world, it would still take a long time to fully transform Blue Star.

Someone discovered that by venturing deep into the Spirit Realm, capturing and compressing the aura of the Spirit Realm, and bringing it back to Blue Star, they could accelerate the infection of supernatural factors in humans once the container was opened.

Once the supernatural factors in a human reached a certain level, the Spirit Realm would actively capture that person and teleport them into the Spirit Realm.

If you can't find the book title, try searching for the author; maybe the name was just changed!

When humans entered the Spirit Realm, a lucky few would succeed in Spirit Awakening with the help of the dense magic there, their constitution changing from mundane to supernatural, allowing them to cultivate.

Only those actively captured by the Spirit Realm gained the benefit of an evolved constitution; those who entered through other portals forever lost the chance to transform their bodies.

This step could be considered leaping over the dragon gate.

Cross it, and you would be a cut above the rest. The supernatural could improve through cultivation: warriors, knights, warlocks, mages, and wizards.

Dozens, even hundreds of legacies were available for selection and cultivation.

The transcendent realm was a world that inspired longing and a class that invited envy.

The world had thus been divided into two: one for the transcendent, and one for the mundane.

The mundane class was nearly solidified; as long as one didn't become a transcendent, the only thing a person in the lower rungs could do was work hard to scrape by.

They labored to raise children, hoping their offspring would succeed in Spirit Awakening and become transcendent.

As the classroom suddenly fell silent, Huo Ling looked up to see the homeroom teacher had arrived at the podium.

He surveyed the students' demeanor and nodded in satisfaction.

"Students, we've been together for three years, and now the time has finally come to part ways."

"This semester... marks the fork in the road for everyone's destiny."

"Class monitor, come and distribute these forms." The teacher scanned the classroom, looking at those youthful faces.

The class monitor passed out a paper form in order.

Huo Ling glanced at it: Stone Creek No. 3 High School Spirit Awakening Application Form!

"Students, take these forms home today. Discuss them with your parents. If you're willing to participate in the Spirit Awakening, fill them out and hand them back to me tomorrow."

Spirit Awakening wasn't a safe process, nor did everyone succeed, so the state didn't force every child to participate.

Transcendents had appeared over three hundred years ago, and Blue Star had long since passed its most dangerous era. Now, the people of Great Xia had ventured beyond Blue Star, with many entering the Spirit Realm to develop and plunder.

Ordinary people who wanted to join this journey of wealth—akin to the Age of Discovery—or who wanted to achieve class mobility, would choose to participate in the Spirit Awakening.

For the nation of Great Xia, there was no arrangement to teach the vast number of common children about the Spirit Realm from a young age.

Firstly, it was due to limited educational resources; secondly, the top of the pyramid was already crowded, and there was no need for more people to climb up.

Educational resources were limited, and transcendent resources were equally scarce. What Great Xia needed now were merely successive crops of transcendent leeks.

Therefore, the Spirit Awakening was chosen for the second semester of the senior year. If you wanted to gamble, you would learn the relevant knowledge of the Spirit Realm and finally participate in a life-or-death game.

If you didn't want to gamble, you would honestly study ordinary subjects and become a common cog in the machine on Blue Star—a worker, a service industry employee, or someone in the entertainment sector.

As for those with power, their children often didn't need to gamble like this. They had better education, better resources, and better equipment; even their Spirit Awakening had a higher success rate.

Everything was almost predetermined from the moment of birth.

So... would you gamble?

Huo Ling gripped the application form in his hand. He knew he had to gamble; even if it meant sacrificing his life, he had to seize this one and only chance.

Otherwise, his remaining life would be nothing more than the same fate as his parents...

"Alright, everyone has worked hard cleaning the classroom today, so let's call it a day. Go home early."

Hearing the bell ring from the school's tallest building, the homeroom teacher cheerfully announced the end of the school day.

All the students immediately scattered.

Even Huo Ling was no exception. He grabbed his schoolbag, vaulted out of the nearby window, and dashed straight for the school gate.

Although school had started, he still had a part-time job as a waiter at a restaurant near his home.

Being a waiter at this kind of restaurant was exhausting, especially as a part-timer. Not only did he have to serve dishes and clear tables, but sometimes he also had to help wash the dishes.

What? You say washing dishes is too dirty and tiring, so you won't do it?

If you don't do it, you're out...

Huo Ling worked part-time here, busy from six to eleven every day, earning twenty yuan a day.

It wasn't low, but it wasn't high either. The main thing was that since school had started, there were very few part-time jobs he could do, and this restaurant at least provided one meal, which was quite good.

Rushing into the restaurant, Huo Ling changed his clothes and began his work for the day.