Chapter 3

After the principle announced this all the students and teachers clapped.

No one had any time to waste since it would take about 8 hours to finish all the people's awakening.

"Alright, first up is James Charles!"

A boy walked up to the stage under the watch of everybody.

you could tell he was nervous by how profusely he was sweating.

'Why do we have to do this Infront of everyone's thought James as he sighed, wanting to cry but not being able to.

James walked up to the first stone that had a piece of paper taped to it that said Martial Spirit Awakening Stone'.

James placed his hand on it and prayed to God that he would awaken a martial spirit that was atleast average.

a few seconds later 3 yellow lights came a few feet off of the stone and what displayed was what looked like an ancient flute.

It had to be known that martial spirits were divided into ranks.

They were yellow, black, mysterious, earth and heaven.

Each of these grades were further divided into 9 grades per rank.

This meant that James had awakened a 3rd grade yellow rank martial soul.

This could be considered average in the base city they were in.

As the rank of the martial spirit, the difference between the grades became greater and greater.

James saw this and let out a sigh of relief.

This was exactly what he hoped for.

He didn't know what he would do if he got a 1st grade yellow rank martial spirit.

He looked over at the other stones but didn't expect anything from these stones.

These stones tested to see if you had any hidden talents, a unique bloodline, or a unique constitution and would awaken them if you did.

It was extremely rare to have even the lowest rank hidden talent which was low grade.

it was even more rare to have a hidden bloodline or constitution.

someone who could awaken a bloodline or constitution were non-existent in their city due to leaving for bigger opportunities and none have popped up for the past 10 years.

It wasn't like it never happened, it was just that rare.

and the person that did awaken it awakened a constitution of the lowest grade.

It also had to be known that the base city they resided in had a population close to 500 million.

and this base city was considered small.

Humans have been desperately copopulating and even use artificial wombs to nurture more children.

This was to get more potential geniuses.

The recommended amount of kids per household was an astonishing 10.

if this was back on the earth that Damien once knew this wouldn't be sustainable for almost all families.

however resources really weren't a problem these days.

genetic engineering made it so plants could grow much faster, under harsher conditions, with more of a variation and quantity of nutrients while also being much larger in size.

1 tomato here would be able to feed a family of 5 for the day.

Of course they would have to be a little conservative.

But going back to the present situation, James walked up to the hidden talent awakening stone and nothing happened.

he went to the bloodline awakening stone and again, nothing happened.

He went to the constitution awakening stone and once again, nothing happened.

no one was surprised by this but James was a little disappointed.

Who wouldn't be though.

If you could awaken even one of those, even if it was the lowest grade, you future would be much larger.

James got off the stage with a fairly content expression and the principal announced another names.

"Next up is Alisa Sinclair!"

A fairly attractive girl walked up to the stage with a haughty expression on her face that oozed confidence.

she had a decent family background int he base city so she was expected to awaken a 4th grade yellow rank martial spirit.

Alisa placed her hand on the martial spirit awakening stone and it lit up with 5 yellow lights and displayed an ancient looking sword.

Just the aura of the martial spirit made ordinary people shiver.

"Oh my god, she awoken a 5th grade martial spirit!"

"She can be considered a genius in our school!"

...

similar conversations like this were happening everywhere.

The teacher clapped and the principal had a smile on his face.

A 5th grade martial spirit was considered very god in their school.

although it was only a difference in 2 grades from James, it was like the difference between the sky and the earth.

they weren't comparable.

a 5th grade yellow rank martial soul was atleast 25 times better than a third grade.

that was the difference between grades.

Alisa walked up to the hidden talent stone and put her hand on it.

And unlike before when James did it, there was a reaction!

The reaction was different than before and displayed words in the air.

'Inferior Grade Strength Talent'

All the students who saw this burst into an uproar.

The teacher however only smiled and clapped.

They had seen this scene to many times in their life to be shocked.

plus it was only the lowest grade talent.

there would always be a handful of people like this every year.

After everyone had calmed down Alisa tested to see if she had a unique constitution or hidden bloodline but she didn't.

However this didn't stop her from walking down off the stage with a smug expression.

But even then, she couldn't hide the happiness she had on her face.

She knew that with this, she would have a much broader future than all the other peasants here.

After that the principal kept calling names.

"Next, Jamison Litchfield!"

3rd grade martial spirit manifested as a bird, no bloodline or constitution and no hidden talents.

"Next, Daquan Williams!

3rd grade martial spirit that manifested as a lion, no bloodline or constitution and no hidden talents.

....

after another 20 people another person with a hidden talent showed up.

His name was Max Silver.

And his hidden talent was a higher grade that Alisa's.

it was a 5th grade martial spirit manifested as an ancient bronze mirror but he had a low grade speed talent.

And he even had a poor family background so people were more shocked.

Even the teacher couldn't help but nod in acknowledgement.

The difference between inferior grade and low grade was pretty big.

The inferior grade hidden talent multiplied the attributes by 2 times but the low grade talent multiplied the attributes by 4 times.

although this might not sound like a big difference, when in actual combat, the difference was incredible.

Max didn't even try to hide the goofy ass smile on his face and walked off of the stage.

he was so excited that he was shaking.

and he had every reason to be, this development could change his entire family's situation.

money wouldn't be an issue for them anymore.

"Next up, Leah Madison!"

Leah got up and made her way to the front where the stage was set up.

She walked up the steps under everyone's watch with no expression on her face.

however if you looked closely you could see a hint of sadness in her eyes.

no one noticed this however.

everyone was whispering to each other, guessing what her martial spirits grade would be.

everyone had high expectations of her because she was the daughter of the strongest person in the city.

Damien turned and looked at Andrew and asked him "so, what do you think her martial spirits rank will be?"

Andrew pondered for a few seconds before answering "I think she's gonna awaken a grade 8 yellow rank martial spirit."

"She will probably also awaken a couple hidden talents of the low grade but I don't think she will awaken any bloodline or constitution."

Damien looked back up at Leah and squinted his eyes.

If Damien's hypothesis wasn't wrong than what Leah would awaken would shock everybody here.

He didn't think what she would awaken would be as simple as a couple low grade hidden talents and a grade 8 yellow rank martial soul.

"..." Damien didn't say anything and just watched.

Andrew saw the serious look on Damien's face and wondered why he was acting so serious but disregarded it.

After Leah got up to the stage she paused for about 30 seconds before taking a deep breath and going up to the martial spirit awakening stone.

She placed her hand on the stone and nothing happened for a few seconds.

And just as everyone was wondering if Leah couldn't awaken a martial spirit, 7 black lights shot up into the sky, piercing the clouds.

Then, what looked like a piece of a sword slowly descended from the sky stopping a few feet above Leah's head.

Everyone was speechless at what they had seen.

they knew exactly what this was.

How could they not know? this was the 26th century, technology made tons of information easily accessible.

there were videos on the internet of people awakening high ranked martial spirits.

After 4 minutes the phenomenon quieted down.

That's when everybody started speaking.

"A...A...A 8th grade black ranked martial soul!!!" a student screeched.

His voice was cracking like crazy but nobody cared.

Everyone was in an uproar.

They just couldn't contain themselves.

Even the teachers and principal were shocked to the point of not being able to talk clearly.

The principal stood out of his seat so fast that the force of his legs broke the ground a little.

Damien, however, was not shocked in the slightest.

To be honest, he had expected a little higher than this.

But, he knew the best has yet to come.

he cracked a little smile before slightly turning his head to look at Andrew.

Andrew was completely discombobulated.

he was flummoxed to say the least.

Andrew grabbed Damien's shoulders and said "It's really a 8th grade black rank martial spirit!!"

"Punch me right now!" said Andrew and Damien didn't hesitate to punch him int he face as soon as he said that.

Andrew got knocked to the ground but got up and said "I'm really not dreaming...."

"it's still not over yet..." said Damien as he pointed back up to the stage where Leah was walking over to the hidden talent stone.

Andrew looked where Damien was pointing and gulped.

'What else can she show?!'

The rest of the students also noticed this and looked up in anticipation.

Everybody stopped talking all at once.

Leah got up to the hidden talent stone and put her hand on it.

Like what happened with the martial spirit awakening stone, it took a few seconds before anything actually showed up.

However when Leah's hidden talents did show up they shocked everyone there.

'High Grade Strength Talent'

'High Grade Speed Talent'

'High Grade Defense Talent'

'Low Grade Earth Talent'

'Low Grade Water Talent'

'Low Grade Fire Talent'

'Low Grade Gold Talent'

'Low Grade Wind Talent'

'Low Grade Sword Talent'

This time, everybody felt like their hearts had stopped for a few seconds.

This was even more impressive than when Leah awakened her 8th grade black rank martial soul.

Once again everyone burst into an uproar.

they knew that from this day onwards, Leah's future would far surpass anyone else's from this base city.

They all knew that there was no way that Leah would stay in this small base city where her potential would be limited.

She was definately gonna go to atleast a medium grade base city, if not a high grade one.

everyone calmed down quicker than before this time and now watched Leah as she removed her hand from the stone and walked over to the bloodline awakening stone.

this time however she didn't immediately place her hand on the awakening stone.

it seemed like she was hesitating.

But finally, she clenched her fist and placed her hand on the bloodline awakening stone.

This time, the stone reacted almost immediately, it shone a faint red color.

However everyone could see that the red light was slowly getting brighter and brighter.

It only took a few seconds before the light was so bright that people had to cover their eyes.

They didn't know what was going on.

They knew the bloodline awakening stone would have a reaction but they weren't sure if it would be this strong.

a majority of people thought the stone had malfunctioned after being used so many times.

However the principal could see it clearly.

Faintly above the stone there was white text that displayed...

'King Grade Bloodline - 1% Awakened'

Before the stone shattered into many pieces.

The pieces flew out so fast they were like shotgun blasts.

for cultivators, it would be no problem to block this, but for ordinary people, this could kill them before they even knew what happened.

When the principle saw this happen, he immediately created a barrier to block the stray pieces of stones.

Everyone heard the loud band and opened their eyes only to see a golden barrier that the principal created.

they looked over and saw that the bloodline awakening stone was nowhere to be seen.

They only saw Leah who was now covered in dust.

Unlike the students, she was stronger than most body refining cultivators and her body was extremely sturdy, allowing her to get out unscathed.

Nobody knew what had happened.

"It looks like the bloodline awakening stone malfunctioned..." said one student still full of shock.

"But there is no doubt about it, Leah definately awakened a bloodline of some kind..." said another, confidently.

"Do you think Leah awakened a bloodline, Andrew?" said Damien with a slight smile, like this was within his expectations.

Andrew was still befuddled from when Leash awakened her hidden talents, even more so from the bloodline and only came back to it when Damien asked his question.

Andrew smiled and sighed in defeat.

He knew it was almost impossible for them to be together.

He knew that the moment she awakened her martial spirit.

"What do you think?" said Andrew as he looked into the sky.

"Well there is still one more test to do..." said Damien.

This time without pause Leah walked up to the constitution awakening stone and put her hand on it.

This time the phenomenon she created didn't really surprise anyone.

She awakened a constitution called the 'Frost Empress Constitution'.

It had never been seen before.

there was an uncountable number of constitutions so it wasn't very surprising this happened.

Nobody was shocked in the slightest at this.

however the principal knew just how much potential Leah really had.

'Christopher, just what kind of woman did you knock up...' thought the principal as he gave a slight smile.

Christopher was naturally the name of Leah's father.

The principal and Leah's father are close friends so the principal knows a miniscule amount about Leah's origins.

One day Christopher set off from the base city in search of opportunities and came back with Leah in his arms and an empty look in his eyes.

Coming back to the resent the principal looked at Leah as she got off the stage and sat back down in her seat.

However this time, everyone gaze was filled with respect and people even moved away from her so they wouldn't annoy her.

After Leah sat down, Andrew looked at her with his moth open as if he was about to say something but nothing came out.

After a few seconds Andrew closed his mouth and looked away.

He felt like there was an insurmountable gap between the and she had just awakened.

Andrew knew he would only get further away from her from this point onwards.

After 5 minutes of talking it finally started to die down and people regained their composure.

the bloodline stone and also been replaced.

The principal regained his bearings and cleared his throat.

"Ahem... Next up, Andrew Wilhelm!"

Wilhelm was naturally Andrews last name.

Damien saw him get up and walk through the town up to the front and walked into the stage.

Andrew hoped that he would get something that would at least close the gap between Leah and him a little.

Andrew placed his hand on the awakening stone and to Damien's expectations, very quickly it was obvious that Andrew awakened a 1st grade yellow rank martial soul that manifested itself as a fat pig.

Andrews face was that of shock at this moment.

what he saw Infront of his eyes made him want to cry tears of joy.

[System activating.... 1%... 10%.... 46%.... 90%.... 100%... Congratulations to the host for the activation of The Infinite System's System!]

Andrew almost thought he was dreaming.

He really awakened a system!

When he first saw the fat pig he almost had a heart attack.

he couldn't believe he got something that bad.

it was extremely rare to get something that bad.

it was as rare if not more rare than awakening a black rank martial spirit.

Andrew could tell just from the name what kind of system it is.

'System, what kind of things can I copy?' thought Andrew.

[The host can unlock an infinite amount of systems by using system points.]

[These can be gained in various ways such as killing mutated creatures.]

[The host is allowed to randomly draw one system for free as apart of the 'Novice Giftpack'.]

[Does the host wish to draw the lottery?]

Andrew was ecstatic when he heard this.

He quickly went to the other awakening stones and of course didn't awaken anything.

He rushed back to his seat trying to contain his happiness.

However by doing that it made it look like he was about to cry.

Damien sat back down and noticed Andrews weird reaction.

'He probably awakened some kind of cheat system..' thought damien as he shook his head.

He was jealous, but only for a moment.

A system is borrowed power.

it can be taken away from you at any time.

Damien prefers doing things himself much more.

Andrew sat down next to Leah and Damien and immediately thought:

'Draw!'

A massive lottery wheel appeared in front of him with seemingly endless options on it.

The wheel started to spin and 5 minutes later finally started to stop.

What it stopped on made Andrew ecstatic.

[Congratulations! The host has gotten the Unlimited Upgrade System!]

Immediately after that, foreign memories appeared in his head that instructed him how to operate the new system he received.

'Huh, that's convenient...' thought Andrew with an approving look.

'Status!' thought Andrew.

[Unlimited Upgrade System Panel - LVL 1]

Andrew Wilhelm

Cultivation Techniques: None

Martial Spirit Rank: Level 1 [+]

The panel was very simple and only had a few options but Andrew knew that he was hooked up.

Andrew imagined pressing on the plus sign and what popped up made him ecstatic.

[Upgrade Martial Spirit - 100 Dollars]

It was just like what was described in the memories.

Andrew pressed upgrade and the panel now displayed:

[Unlimited Upgrade System Panel - LVL 1 [+]

Andrew Wilhelm

Cultivation Techniques: None

Martial Spirit Rank: Level 2 [+]

Andrew wanted to upgrade his martial spirit again but he was to poor.

It only cost 500 dollars but he didn't have that much in his savings.

He pretty much lived on the streets.

Andrew shook his head and closed the panel out looking up at the stage where the principal announced.

"Next up, Damien McKnight!"