Entering Military Academy

In some time, when I opened my eyes again, I felt renewed strength in my body.

I noticed my muscles had become a little more defined, and my dark hair seemed to have patches of silver in it. It also seemed awakening had given me about 10 points to each of my stat.

[Name: Soren

Race: Human

Level: 4 (400/2000)

Stats -->

Constitution: 58

Agility:67

Intelligence:50

Unassigned points: 0

Skills -->

(None)

Abilties -->

Dark-Cold Manipulation

Quests -->

(None)

Geno skill training available: Vanishing Steps…]

The very first thing I did was pay attention to the new strange feeling within my body. It seemed like a new muscle had been added to my body that allowed me to use my ability.

I raised my hand up slowly and tried to control this new muscle. Right after, a dark-colored cold ice began to float in my hand.

Staring at this phenomenon with my own eyes, my chin trembled with excitement. I had somehow controlled the moisture in the air and make it take this form.

Then, I allowed this hardened glob of ice to shoot away.

Woosh…!

The glob of dark ice flew at a breath-taking speed and crashed into a nearby metal shelf. With a banging sound, a huge dent was visible on the surface of the shelf.

It made me nod in satisfaction at the power of the dark ice.

After a few more rounds of experimentation, I realized I could change the shape of ice into any form I desired. It could be made into a weapon, a barrier, and could be controlled freely as I pleased.

The more I stimulated my powers; the more energy was drained from me.

It was a feeling similar to physical exhaustion and symbolized the limitation of the ability. Nevertheless, the ability was fairly versatile and made me smile pleasantly.

The very next thing that caught my attention was the 'Geno skill training' tab displayed by the system.

"What does this do?" I muttered, staring at the particular system function.

I tried selecting the 'Vanishing Step' skill, and then an illusionary screen soon opened up.

In it, there was a shadow of a man who seemed to be moving in a special fashion. His feet would first move in a lightning like manner, and then he was seemed to be literally vanishing from one point to another.

The skill seemed to me like something akin to teleportation.

I could only watch in amazement and have no idea how the man was performing this Geno skill.

Even if the man performed it in slow-motion for me, that did not help too much.

"Hell, yes!"

I immediately replied. Who in the hell would not want to learn such a skill? It clearly seemed like a high-level Geno skill.

The system seemed to be so generous that I began to feel a little nervous. I couldn't but guess if it would require something of me later.

There's no such thing as a free lunch in a cruel world after all.

For now, I moved these thoughts at the back of my mind and accepted the system's gifts.

A myriad of information began to flow in my mind. It explained to me things like which muscle to control and how in order to perform the vanishing step. Being a Geno skill, the system emphasized teaching me how to control the potential gene force inside me to perform the skill.

It was all theoretical information, but it greatly simplified the process for me. Watching the shadow man perform the move again, I somewhat understood how he was able to do so.

All I needed was a lot of practice, and it wouldn't take me too long to master the move as well.

With my face flushed a little red in excitement, I began to practice the Geno skill.

…

Just like this, my hikimori life continued for one more month.

I spent almost the entirety of my time practicing either my Dark-Cold manipulation ability or Vanishing Steps.

Day by day, I was getting more proficient in performing them. At this point, I was really thankful on my past self to invest at least some points on my intelligence.

It seemed intelligence was directly correlated with the ease of controlling my ability or learning the Vanishing Steps.

When I displayed either my ability or the Geno skill, it seemed to stimulate the same kind of force inside my body.

I could see that regular practice could lead to both my stats and ability power increasing over time, albeit increasing stats through the system was almost infinitely faster.

Speaking about the system, it was beginning to appear more useless by the day.

"Tsk… Tsk… Can't you give me another quest, you stingy system?"

I blurted, disappointed by the absolute zero increase in my stat points over the last month.

Ever since the daily quests mission was completed, my progress had completely stalled. I wasn't gaining any stats or XP anymore. My level was stuck at 4, and there wasn't anything I could do as of yet.

Fortunately, I had my Geno skill and ability to keep me busy with practice. I would have grown much more impatient otherwise.

At that moment, the sound of the bell ringing took my attention.

I turned my glance at the door; a small frown apparent on my face. 'Who the hell could it be? I haven't had guests this entire time…'

I switched on the lights and took strides towards the door.

When I opened it, I observed a tall, muscular old man. He had a beard, a scar over his left eye and white gray hair. He wore a dark suit and government coat on top with shoulder pads, signifying his position as an officer from the Alliance.

I had no idea who this man was and tried my hardest to joggle the memories of my predecessor for a clue.

The old man gazed at me for a few long moments. Then, he said, "Aren't you going to invite me in, young man?"

His words woke me up from my stupor.

I headed back to my room and cleared a section of area for the man to sit in.

No matter who he was, the man was from the government and deserved respect. The Alliance government was the biggest and strongest organization that essentially ruled this world with a hardened fist. Almost all government bureaucrats were retired military soldiers and far from someone who could be messed by a nobody like Soren.

Soon the old man took seat in front of me and observed me for a few long moments.

'Hmm, this boy's condition looks much better than I thought…'

He noticed how healthy and even muscular the boy in front of him looked. The old man was truly pleasantly surprised because he was expecting some scrawny and weak kid who had holed himself for months after getting bullied in school.

This wasn't the first time when he dealt with problem kids like these after all. In fact, his job was to ensure kids like Soren wouldn't try to escape from the Alliance laws and skip military school.

Over the years, he had seen tones of war orphans like Soren with no resources that had even lost the will to live. These kids always caused him the greatest headache.

In some time, the old man took out a large file and flipped a few pages.

"Soren… Hmm, No last name… Orphan recovered from Colony B-45… Age 16… Ability level… not awakened yet… Recently skipped school's final exam…" The old man began to mutter to himself.

Soon he gazed back at me and took his hand towards mine, shaking it, and then added, "Hi, I'm with the Alliance… You call me Mr. Leo… Do you know why I'm here?"

"No, not exactly…"

My lips pressed together into a slight grimace. I didn't think that the government should approach me for anything, not even about leaving school.

"Well, let me explain your situation to you…"

Mr. Leo cleared his throat and began his narration.

Basically, I was informed that my graduation ceremony had occurred last week in school. Since I had been so adamant about not going to school, I was ratted out by my school to the appropriate Alliance authorities. Mr. Leo had essentially come here in order to personally escort me and ensure that a problem kid like me would not skip the military academy too. The Alliance didn't want to go through the trouble of enforcing harsh punishments on every orphan if they didn't need to after all.

I was a little taken back at first, but I hadn't planned to skip out in the first place.

Skipping school was one thing but the thought of resisting the military… Tsk… that was whole another ball game.

Those who avoided attending military academy were often dealt with harsh punishments. The world was at war, and the Alliance wanted to get their hands on every young soldier they could.

Even noble families could not bypass this law, let alone an orphan like Soren.

I, for one, did not even harbor the thought of testing what the Alliance would do to me if I tried to escape.

Soon I accepted Mr. Leo's terms and agreed to be escorted to the military academy the following day.

I packed what I could and waited patiently for what was to come.

The next day, Mr. Leo came through to pick me up. I sported a nice-looking shirt and followed him with no sign of looking back.

"I'll be in your care, Mr. Leo!"

**

Military academies were usually located in other planets.

Soren and other randomly selected students, belonging to the same zone on Earth, were grouped together and assigned to one these academies.

The academy Soren was going to was called The Citadel and was based in Planet Terra.

It was one of those planets which were conquered during the early days when the Gates opened up and had established a strong human presence.

Currently, Mr. Leo was escorting me through the city, and we had arrived at a Gate transportation port.

Let alone a transmigrator like me, even the real Soren hadn't ever walked out of his own small district on Earth in his life.

The short travel on itself was an exciting experience for me, and the emotion was showing heavily on my face.

Witnessing my behavior, the old man Leo was confused. 'Isn't this boy an ability-less student who quit school because of bullying… Why is this kid so cheerful?'

These thoughts crossed Mr. Leo's mind for a moment, before he shook his head and forgot it.

Mr. Leo knew he had one job. He didn't need to over complicate it by thinking so much.

"Here's your military academy ID; make sure to carry it everywhere you go." Soon Mr. Leo handed me a card and then continued, "You can use it to access the Gate transport station and receive many other benefits…"

I examined the military card slowly, and I almost reflexively cringed a bit at the picture.

It looked like no matter which world you were a part of, your photo ID picture almost always made you look ugly. This was a little truer of Soren whose facial features had gone through a subtle transformation by the system.

In due time, Mr. Leo and I scanned our ID's and were transported through the Gate to planet Terra.

At the Terra transport station, Mr. Leo had made me change into the standard military academy uniform and asked me to head to the academy with my weapon.

After I grabbed my slightly rusty steel sword from my luggage, Mr. Leo then took custody of the rest of my luggage.

"Don't worry, your luggage will be transported to your dorms. Now, just head to your division and sign up there… The Citadel academy is just a few minutes north of this station… Good luck, kid."

With a bright smile on my face, I bowed politely at Mr. Leo for escorting me and bid my farewell.

Mr. Leo stared at my back for a few seconds with a slack expression. 'Military academy is a cruel place… too cruel. Hopefully he makes the right choices and survives.'

…

I was leisurely walking north towards the military academy. Before I knew it, I was already there.

The school campus seemed gigantic. Acres and acres of land stretched as far as the eye can see. There were a few structures built here and there, but the most prominent one was the huge white tower at the center. It looked futuristic and pretty like a modern architectural wonder.

I couldn't help but stand still for a long minute, admiring the scenery completely.

There were hundreds of students walking alongside me. Most of them were dressed in the uniform of combat division, just like Soren.

There were also quite a few others in uniforms of support division and technological division. The former had students with support related abilities like healing and buffs, while the latter worked closely with the military's research and logistics department.

Looking at the nervous and anticipating faces of many of these students, my face was nodding in nostalgia.

In time, I reached a wide courtyard where many students from the combat division were signing up.

I was glancing around to find the registration spot, when a man dressed in Alliance military uniform took strides in my direction.

"Welcome to the academy student, my name's private Nell… Show me your student ID."

Without further delay, I handed him my ID and waited.

The soldier took out his pad and quickly scrolled down to my name, confirming my registration to the academy. He then pointed to a direction and then said, "Head West for 5 minutes and take the first right. You'll arrive at a field, where you'll take your skill exam with group 7."

With these words, the private left me and looked for another incoming student.

…

Shortly, I arrived at the field where our examination was supposed to take place.

There were a group of about 100 students there who seemed to be quietly waiting for something.

"Hey, come here and show your ID…" A voice said, pulling my attention to a tent structure set up with a few military personal.

The one who called to me was a tan-skinned, middle-aged man with a thick mustache. He was staring onto his tablet and barely paying attention to his surroundings.

I headed towards him quickly and saluted.

The man still seemed to be fiddling with his tablet but muttered a few words that were barely audible.

"Orphan… No ability yet… Elize… handle him."

A short woman with shoulder-length black hair behind him quickly nodded with a "Yes, sir!" She quickly took out a strange looking flask along with a contract paper and a few books and placed them in front of me, where I can see their contents clearly.

"As long as you sign this contract, you can have one of these Geno skill books and the Awakening solution. Then, you can return and give this test after a month." She said, her voice cold.

With a quizzical expression, I took a long look at the very famous Awakening solution. Then, I turned to the details of the contract.

The more I read through it, the more I was impressed.

To summarize, the contract demanded that one agree to a few years of service into the military.

In return, one would not only be immediately awarded with a GenZ awakening potion, but a low-ranked Geno skill that was exclusively available only to the Alliance military too.

All of this sounded like a very fair trade, but I could some hidden implications behind accepting the contract.

Once a student accepted the contract and had a taste of Geno skills, which can even make their abilities stronger over time, they would become further and further indebted to the military.

Unlike what I did with a system, an average person could take years to master a single Geno skill. They would rather have higher version of the same skills rather than finding new ones.

This would make them loyal to the military and accumulate merit points to receive the classified higher versions of the skills.

It may actually be a fair trade but still a massive conspiracy, nonetheless.

'Hmm… Snake movement, Iron body… the power in these Geno skills seem pure trash compared to mine!'

As I was leisurely skimming through each Geno skill book, the lady's veins protruded in irritation as she said, "We don't have all day! Quickly choose and sign the contract!"

"Wait, I think I'm going to take the ability test…"

"What the hell?! An un-awakened wants to give the ability exam?! Stop wasting time and sig-"

"No, but I insist… I have actually awa-"

Before I could complete my words, the lady's face had already turned red in complete anger. She was being nice, and an orphan with no ability still dared to interrupt her words.

Where was the justice in this world?

Just as she was about to explode and yell, the middle-aged man suddenly waived his hand and said, "Elize, register the student and make him wait along with the rest of the examinees."

Hearing the man's words, the lady could only grit her teeth. She took out a wristwatch and tightly grabbed my hand, attaching the watch to it.

"Good luck for your exam." She said, her tone tinged with disdain.

I examined the watch carefully. It seemed to have a few features, such as email and calling. It seemed like a very advanced Apple Watch, until I noticed a prominent section which currently had "Ability level- ???, Power level- ???" displayed on it.

If my guess wasn't wrong, this watch had the power dictate my entire life in the academy. It could be a trophy one carried around or a humiliation depending on one's power.

I thought that by handing military academy uniforms, the school wanted to reduce discrimination between the poor and the rich.

Little did I know that my understanding couldn't be more wrong. The military just wanted to you know that your genes and power level are what makes you important here.

Elize was still glaring at me with anger as I headed towards the group of my fellow classmates. The middle-aged man still hadn't bothered taken a single glance away from his tablet, impressing me a little.

I aspired to be like the man one day, giving absolutely zero fucks.

He didn't care if an orphan suffered a little because of not signing the contract. Why waste time when the the military academy was going to set the student straight anyway...?

Soon I joined the rest of the awaiting students and prepared to give my first exam in many years. 'Ah, time to begin my school life again!'