Minutes passed in silence. Lu Zhiheng could already see the unease on the faces of the other Unawakened. Absolute silence was not something they were accustomed to; thus, it was inevitable for them to be uncomfortable.

  Interestingly, he himself did not feel any unease. In fact, the silence felt more comfortable than the sound of his own breath.

  Then, a few silhouettes appeared on the ornate balcony of the obsidian edifice opposite the assembled youths.

  Four figures stepped out and stood like sentinels. A young man—with waist-length, dark violet hair and a sharp jawline, donning a light green robe embroidered with countless hand-woven intricate patterns—stood at the front.

  Beside him stood an elder with his spine curved like a gnarled root; yet he still towered over his companion. It was unknown how tall that elder was, but Lu Zhiheng had a guess that he was at least nine feet tall when standing straight. The most peculiar thing about the elder was definitely his hairstyle, those pastel red hair that he was wearing like a scarf around his neck were definitely longer than him.

  Behind them were two women of mirror-image symmetry. One look and anyone could tell they were twins. They both had the same blade-sharp cheekbones and pupils like chips of obsidian along with short brown hair. Their hands clasped behind their waists, expressions unreadable.

  Before this quartet, thousands of anxious students stood motionless. They couldn’t create any sound but even then, no one dared to make any attempt.

  Then, the young man spoke, his voice cutting through the oppressive quiet with casual, almost bored authority.

  “The children of the Shanyue village…

  Welcome to the Grand Awakening Ceremony.”

  The moment he spoke, every last shred of the students’ attention was irrevocably captured. They understood the sheer power these figures represented, and they knew that a single misspoken word or missed instruction would never be repeated. Their futures hinged on this moment.

  "First of all, since some of you might still be oblivious, let me give you a brief overview of the ceremony and a few important pointers that you must know." He clasped his hands behind his back, surveying the crowd with mild interest. "You're likely already familiar with the Fragment. If not, just say the word 'Fragment' in your mind, and it will appear."

  He paused, letting the command ripple through the crowd.

  “The Fragment is the most crucial element of an Awakened’s life. It is a repository for your strength, your secrets, and your very essence. Yet, its sanctity is absolute; no one can ever peek into another's Fragment.”

  "That's why it is also the greatest treasure any Awakened can ever obtain. It will help you throughout your life and holds immense powers of Heaven and Earth." His gaze swept across them, cold and appraising. "No one is above the Fragment. It is the most powerful entity in existence. How you treat it matters more than anything else. If you use it wisely, it will grant you benefits beyond any worldly wealth.”

  He let that settle before continuing.

  "To complete the Awakening, your soul and body will undergo what are called the Trials of the Fragment. These trials contain two parts."

  He raised his index finger.

  "The First Trial—if cleared—awakens your soul and grants you a Soul Gift. Hence, it is called the Soul Awakening."

  The second finger joined the first.

  "Whether you pass the Soul Awakening or not, you will then undergo the Second Trial—the Physical Awakening, or simply, Awakening. If you clear the Awakening Trial but fail the Soul Awakening, you will become an Awakened, but you will not receive a Soul Gift. And similarly, if you somehow managed to fail in the second trial despite having a soul gift, you will remain a half awakened."

  He lowered his hand.

  "I will explain both in greater detail. But first, let's discuss Awakening."

  “For the second trial, you will be transported to a separate realm where the Fragment will generate a unique ‘Game’. Your objective is to win.”

  His tone remained flat, almost clinical.

  “Those who succeed will become fully Awakened. Those who fail will either die or be relegated to the state of a Half-Awakened. The specifics of the game are unknown, as the first trial is unique to each individual, and the second to each batch.”

  He reached out his hand and channeled something; slowly, the ring on his middle finger started glowing and a projection of a glass-like material with words inscribed on it appeared above his palm. The projection enlarged until everyone on the ground was able to see it.

  Lu Zhiheng found it very familiar. Indeed, it was a projection of the fragment.

  “Upon conquering the second trial, the Fragment unfurls its full architecture: progression metrics, cultivation pathways, skill repositories, and the quantification of flesh into discrete values—strength, speed, intellect, rendered in numbers you may allocate as you will. And it also bestows several rewards: the most prominent include treasures and a foundation for your cultivation progress.”

  He smirked faintly as the projection changed, the words turned into images, images into numbers and numbers into an interface. One by one, the instructor showed many forms and features of the fragment.

  “While the aesthetic of your Fragment interface is customizable, its core features are universal. One such feature is Physical Attribute Point Distribution.”

  The projection then turned into a table of numbers.

  Name: Experiment (16) (Human)

  Strength: 10

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Agility: 10

  Intellect: 10

  Endurance: 10

  Sense: 10

  Free points: 50

  Then another projection appeared, but this one was human.

  “Among your initial rewards, you will receive a number of unallocated points. You must invest these into physical attributes like Strength, Agility, or Intelligence and so forth before undergoing awakening.

  As a result, when the fragment starts the process of awakening, your entire body undergoes a metamorphosis, transforming into a superior vessel capable of cultivation and feats you could never achieve as Unawakened, all in the shape of the newly designed build you created using different attributes."

  He put all the free points into different physical attributes, and as expected the human projection changed appropriately. The most visible being the strength aspect. Then the elder on his side created another projection, this time putting the stats differently than before.

  "However, choose wisely. If you pour all your points into Strength, strength-based techniques will come naturally, but attempting a speed-based technique without the requisite points will fail. Balance is not required, but specialization demands sacrifice. Your choices before the Awakening are critical.”

  They compared the two projections with each other, both winning in their comparatively stronger aspect.

  The instructor let the projections run, and continued.

  "If you fail the Trial of Awakening, you become Half-Awakened. You'll remain at the bottom tier for the rest of your life."

  His expression darkened. "And as you already know: Unawakened cannot cultivate."

  "Half-Awakened are more like Unawakened than Awakened. They possess no power or potential. The only difference? They can no longer be influenced by others, and their Fragment functions are unlocked."

  He straightened.

  “As for Awakened… the quality of your bloodline and innate physique determines the quality of your Awakening.

  This defines your aptitude, which ranges from D-grade to S-grade. A D-grade aptitude caps your cultivation and techniques at D-grade for life, while an S-grade aptitude allows you to soar, not only to cultivate different techniques to S-grade but far beyond.”

  “But!” he declared, his voice sharpening.

  “Do not despair if your aptitude is lacking. Humanity’s true weapon is not the body, but the soul.

  As Awakening is connected to your physical body, once you awaken, you can cultivate anything that exists physically or metaphysically within your body—which is everything except the soul.

  And that brings me to the Soul Awakening.”

  His took a moment and then continued.

  "You undergo Soul Awakening before Physical Awakening. But to actually obtain your Soul Gift, you must confront your past."

  "The soul is the trickiest and a deeply complicated aspect of existence, varying wildly across species. Even the strongest beings in the world might not possess all of its knowledge."

  "What we do know is that everyone has a soul. For humans, it does not interact with anything physical. Yet the soul contains your life."

  "Your life is your experiences. And what are experiences?"

  He let the question hang.

  "Your past."

  "That is why you must confront your past to obtain your Soul Gift."

  "How will you confront it? The confrontation is different for everyone, so I cannot tell you specifics. Some must relive their moments. Some must fix their mistakes. While some must simply accept who and what they are."

  He looked down on the stiff and dazed Unawakened from above. Many of them already had the information that was told and would be told—except Lu Zhiheng who was still listening carefully—it wasn’t any secret. Though, the Unawakened were attentive at first, the long speech of instructions would wear anyone out.

  He couldn’t do anything about it, this was the protocol and he had to follow it. Because right now he was actually influencing them and was consolidating their future prospects.

  But he knew what was coming next will definitely attract their attention.

  “The most profound advantage of a Soul Gift is longevity.

  Most humans die around 100 years as their bodies degrade. A normal soul's lifespan is 1,000 years. A powerful physique can extend a life, but even an S-grade Awakened can only hope to live a millennium.

  A Ranked Cultivator is different. By cultivating the soul to higher ranks, its strength and quality increases, and with each rank, your lifespan expands nearly tenfold. Rank 2 is ten thousand years. Rank 3 is one hundred thousand. And for a Ranked Cultivator, enhancing the quality of their physique is trivial.

  Aside from that there are a total of seven ranks to the soul cultivation but the knowledge of anything above rank 3 is exceedingly rare.”

  "Remember that obtaining this power is exceedingly rare. In the more than 30,000-year history of our Shanyue clan, only a few thousand have successfully obtained a Soul Gift.”

  Sigh. He exhaled a deep breath.

  "Alright that’s all for now, this is all the necessary information you need to know before awakening, now after I give the order, all of you will enter the halls in order. Check your room number plates and stand in front of your assigned room."

  "Those rooms are lightproof and soundproof so you don't disturb others."

  "Once you're in position, I will come to each of you with our clan's Awakening Stone. You will touch the stone with both hands, then enter your room and lock it."

  "Awakening can take anywhere from one hour to thirty-one days. The First Trial takes less than a second, and then the fragment will move you to the other realm for the Second Trial."

  "After you return to your room, come down to report yourself. Then the competition for school allotment will begin."

  He swept his gaze across them one final time.

  "Now... Go!"

  The moment the command was given, a controlled surge of movement swept through the crowd. Students streamed into the building. The moment the first candidate stood before his room, the one figure from the balcony walked over to him and then moved for the next one.

  The process was exceedingly efficient: a touch of the stone, and they moved to the next candidate in a flash, taking barely two seconds per person.

  Seeing this, panic ignited. Everyone began to sprint. Time was of the essence, and they not only had to get their room numbers but also search the building and floor and then swim past the hordes of other Unawakened. Everyone avoided the instructors like plague, they didn’t want to collide with them. Among them was Lu Zhiheng.

  Now, Lu Zhiheng was really itching to slap someone in the midst of the chaos, but couldn’t.

  He knew that if the figures arrived at his door and he wasn't there, the chance would be lost forever. Having paid a precious essence stone for this opportunity, missing it over a moment's delay would be the biggest joke of the century.

  But old habits die hard, and especially if they are core memories of school days.

  He couldn’t resist anymore, and on the third floor, he slapped a clueless guy.

  With crisp splat, he dashed towards his room.

  His plate number was 3567. He bolted for the fifth floor of the third building. After a frantic few minutes, he slid to a halt before his door. The students for the adjacent rooms had not yet arrived. The spectral figures were already at room 3523, but their progress was a swift, unstoppable tide. Just as they reached room 3566, its candidate arrived by a hair's breadth; a pretty brunette with a nosebleed and messy clothes caked in dirt.

  ‘Heh, looks like the bimbo took a fall’, Lu Zhiheng thought with a sneer. ‘See? That’s why you got to be harder, better, faster, stronger.’

  All those years of running to the cafeteria were definitely not in vain.

  The girl frantically touched the stone and vanished inside.

  Now, it was his turn.

  Lu Zhiheng took a second look at the Awakening Stone. It was completely black. A perfect sphere of anti-light, so dark it hurt to focus upon, as if space itself had been punched through.

  Lu Zhiheng's fingers brushed its surface.

  ‘It’s so smooth. Is it metal? Crystal?’ he pondered, before stepping into his room and locking the door behind him.

  The chamber was monastic in its austerity: a single pallet of unvarnished wood, and a cheap, battered time-measuring artifact that looked on the verge of collapse.

  Lu Zhiheng chose to sit on the small patch of bare floor.

  'The Awakening and competition will go on for days. And if I stain the bed during Awakening, it'll be hell for the rest of the time.'

  After the thought crossed his mind, a chime resonated directly within his skull. He knew instantly what it was.

  ‘Fragment,’ he commanded mentally.

  A new prompt appeared, showing only what was necessary.

  [Soul Awakening Trial]

  [Initiate?]

  [Yes / No]

  ‘It really does show only what you want to see, huh?’

  “Yes.”

  The interface shifted. A calm, feminine voice echoed in his mind.

  [Choice Confirmed.]

  [Starting Soul Awakening...]

  [...]

  [Trial: Relive your past and eradicate the uncertainties in your soul.]

  [May your path unfold in brilliance, Unawakened.]

  Cultivation ? Progression ? Multiple Lead Characters

  by Tequilama