Long ago, legends were birthed from the livelihood of people who've achieved things greater than anyone else. There were books, novels, scriptures, and even pictures dedicated to such beings. Some of them more famous than others, regardless of these legendary figures were righteous, demonic, or strays. All of them held achievements that applied pressure on those who dared to accomplish the same.
[Legend of the Sword God] : Once upon a time, a sword god was discovered. He was a mortal that slaughtered his way towards Godhood. At 17, he killed 500 people. At 18, 15,000. He had multiple identities as a mortal human being, 'Strongest War General', 'Ascending Calamity', 'Death disguised as a human'.
[Legend of the Cultivation God] : Time, the measure of eras, generations, and epochs. No one knew who or where this Cultivation God came from. All they knew was that it was already too late before this Cultivation God changed the world. Tales written from long ago state that this existence was there, some say this existence was the supernatural phenomenon that occurred throughout the world the whole time. Unknown origins, unknown in modern times. No being is as mysterious as this one.
[Legendary Demon] : Born in the ashes, born in blood. Origins of this demon were found deep within the world's hidden crevices, awaiting for the world to enter the age of darkness. Perhaps crafted by the world to only bring calamity and disaster to everyone in the realm, no one could stop it. The living beings on the world could only wait until the demon grew strong enough before it ascended to another realm, leaving this chaotic place to settle into lull.
Feeling bored, Hazel Illum shut the book tight and pulled it away from him before laying his head down on the desk.
Hazel Illum: 'Such a think book and all it does is talk about the stories of other people. How do people even find the time and energy to collect every single legend in the world and compile it together?'
Feeling disgusted at the amount of effort that people put into this book and the anger that he felt towards the professor that assigned this book as the reading material for the class, Hazel couldn't help but sigh in exasperation.
Pulling out his phone, he saw the time and decided it was time to leave the library. Not even bothering to put the book back on the bookshelf thinking the librarians would just organize everything when it's closed, checked out and left the building heading towards his dorm.
On his way to the dorm, he had an unfortunate encounter with a group of people. In front of his path towards his dorm, a group of 6 girls, wearing a variety of different clothing that could indeed be called fashionable and makeup. Amongst them was a girl he had once liked in high school and even confessed to.
Luckily for him, he decided to store that piece of memory deep in the corners of his mind locked and sealed. Looking straight ahead and attempting to ignore the group of girls, he moved slightly away from them trying to act as inconspicuous as possible.
The girls unfortunately had bad news for him, they actually had saw him immediately and started talking amongst themselves the minute they saw him. Not only did the gossip about him, some of them even moved to intentionally block his way.
Girl 1: "Well, well, well. Look what we have here? If it isn't little Hazel."
Girl 2: "Trying to avoid us without even greeting us? That's no way to treat friends is it now?"
Girl 3: "Hazel, why don't we have a chat while we walk huh?"
Unable to pull himself from the pressure these girls emitted, he could only nod with strain in his neck and he felt nervous, anxious, and stiffness in his entire body. When he was around the girl he confessed to and failed, his body started to develop anxiety and unintentional muscle straining. His body would start to sweat whenever he sensed her nearby and his muscles would stiffen and contract as if trying to signal the mind that it wanted to escape.
Being dragged away by the group of girls, Hazel could only try to calm his body down by relaxing his mind to think as little as possible, his throat tightening up making it difficult to breathe but didn't want to alert the girls into thinking he was scared, tried to be as quiet as possible.
Hazel Illum: 'When it comes to survival, you have to remain calm, not panic, and react appropriately to the situation!'
Hazel could only count himself lucky that the girl that was the biggest problem for him wasn't even doing anything, just softly chatting along with her friends and ignoring his existence as if she hadn't even noticed he was with them.
Near an alley far from the boy's dormitory, the girls had dragged him into the shadows laughing and taking pictures of him. They were practically demons, laughing hysterically, maniacally, and unrestrained as they weren't afraid anyone would come near this particular location.
Hazel knew where this place was, this was their favorite place to bully him all the time. It all begun in the beginning of the semester when he had newly enrolled in this place. he has dreams and ambitions that could lead him to a successful life if he tried. But unfortunately life had other plans and decided to place him in the same class as the girl he once knew and forgotten.
Julia Gaarve. Ms. Gaarve, as he was forced to now call her when they weren't in public, was coincidentally enrolled in the same class as him. That's where the group of girls had started to form. In his mind, he labeled these groups of girls the 'Hexa-Assholes'. Only because they had initially surrounded him in a hexagon shape in the beginning and they were assholes that constantly bothered him.
Nevertheless, when he first saw her in the class, he couldn't help but feel a panic attack coming in. As for her, she only widen her eyes with surprise and proceeded to gossip to the girls that were around her. She signaled with her eyes towards his direction and when he saw the other girls begin to turn to face his direction, that's when he knew she said something about him.
From then on, they'd force him to sit with them, force him to share his class materials, force him into group projects regardless of the numbers, and force him to obey their wishes with threats of smacking him in the back of his head or shoving him in isolated areas.
Back to the present where Hazel was getting mobbed with photos from the 'Hexa-Assholes'. Hazel couldn't help but feel teary eyed and squint due to the constant flashes.
Hazel Illum: 'Maybe this is what celebrities felt when they had paparazzi at events, randomly on the streets, and even where they lived. No freedom from the public, no freedom from their image being threatened.'
The girls noticing the teary eyed boy called Hazel against the wall, couldn't help but take more photos in rapid succession as if they had received some fervor of excitement. The only girl that wasn't speeding up was Julia, at most she took moderately paced photos of him with an expression that was unreadable in the blazing flashes.
Unable to bear the onslaught of embarrassment from these girls, Hazel ran and slightly pushed a few of the girls out of the way but not too hard where they'd fall. At most, they'd slightly trip back a step.
Girl 3: "Aww, why'd he run so fast?"
Girl 4: "Yeah! he could've stayed a little longer, his face was priceless."
Girl 5: "Julia, try to convince him to stay a little longer next time? 'kay?"
Julia, hearing this couldn't help but glance at the group of girls and sigh. Truthfully she didn't expect this to happen to her. She had no idea why Hazel reacted the way he did whenever he's in her presence either. She knew it was probably related to his failed confession but at the time, she told him that she couldn't be in a relationship with him because she was destined to achieve greater things in the future while he hadn't even decided what he wanted to do after high school.
Julia Gaarve: "Go light on him next time alright? No need to bother him so much."
With that statement the group of girls decided to head inside the girl's dormitory where they'd split up. On their way back, they'd constantly talk about Hazel. Whether it'd his personality, his looks, his academics, and his physique. They couldn't stop talking about it because Hazel himself was truly a unique existence in this college.
Meanwhile, Hazel was now running up the stairs in the boy's dormitory on his way to his room. Hazel's room was unique as it only had him living in it, he had no roommate and the dorm room itself was large. Truly speaking, Hazel had no idea why he was given this special dorm nor why he was treated differently in the entire college.
His experience with the girls was unique, but his interactions with the rest of the students and professors of this college was unique as well. He had enrolled in this college under a scholarship and he was even allowed to exit the college campus if he so choose to. Everyone else had to pretty much live within the campus and couldn't leave without permission.
His interactions with students were more or less a celebrity attracting a spotlight in a crowd. Where ever he goes, people's eyes attract to him like magnets. For professors, they treat him lightheartedly and practically as if he wasn't attending their classes in the first place unless group projects were brought up.
Hazel locking up the door to his room collapsed on the ground, kneeling on the ground, pounding the hard wood floor. His tears dripped from his cheeks down to the ground as he hated his treatment in this place. He didn't think that he was special, he didn't think that there was anything different about him from others.
All Hazel wanted was a normal college life but due to circumstances, this college was the only option he had left. Outside of the college, it was barren land. The college was placed on top of a plateau surrounded by wilderness and plant growth all around.
The land that Hazel knows is so far extracted from other societies, he couldn't possibly find other paths in his future unless he wanted to work as a slave for the people in power. He wasn't a genius, nor was he someone who could beat others in various paths of life. He thought he was destined to work as a slave until his parents were recommended by a doctor to send him for application testing at this college.
The only thing he didn't expect upon arriving at the college was to actually have some sort of qualification to attend this college. The college known as 'Heaven's Domain', the strongest power within this small little nation of humans in this landmass of plantation and unknown.
Although he was shocked and in awe at the surprise of being admitted into the college, he couldn't help but feel his inferiorities surface throughout his time here. He wasn't sure what was worse, being treated less than human or expectations so high that he could suffocate.
The only thing he can feel was a positive from being enrolled was the better treatment his parents gave him. The college supplied his family with enough money to last them their entire lifetime and then some for when they passed away for himself. Although that sounded good and all, he couldn't help but feel he sold his freedom for happiness for his family.
Hazel, still on the ground kneeling, couldn't help but feel his throat tighten once more at the thought of his life being constricted, as if a snake coiled around his heart. His only choice was to be wrapped and fall into hopelessness. Although the college itself granted powers beyond human comprehension, it was also a known fact that this career path was one of the worst in existence.
As far as Hazel knew, the career the college educated students to grow into were 'Ascenders'. Ascenders was the occupation of people studying cultivation. What Ascenders do is they study cultivation to grow stronger, every time they grow stronger their mind and body travels to a different world to generate experiences in other worlds using an avatar.
In the past, people would say this job was pretty much a video game except it has real life consequences. Should an avatar be successful in their avatar's goal, a person's cultivation can grow and go to the next stage. If the avatar is unable to achieve the goal or if the avatar dies, that person would receive a backlash reducing their current cultivation accumulation and be forced to endure all of the avatar's pain.
As one could imagine, the human mind isn't particularly strong enough to endure backlashes. Cultivation utilizes the spirit force in the world to evoke cultivation progress that collects in the body's spirit seed. When cultivation recedes, it requires an immense force from the world to replenish whatever possible to stabilize the seed to not shatter, resulting in the brain getting attacked by the force of the world and your own body.
The pain backlash from the avatar also impacts the brain by transporting all pain into a singular moment and evoking emotional trauma. The brain has a pain threshold limit that can be increased but not everyone can increase their pain threshold easily. Although people in the lower realms don't often die with only close to 10% actually dying, most people are unable to perform basic human functions ever again, becoming vegetables.
The higher the cultivation, the harder the goal. The higher the goal, the longer it takes, the more time spent in avatar state and the more experience you can gain and the more backlash you can receive. The high risk and high reward of being a cultivator in the world where Hazel lives depends on how high your cultivation is.
Cultivators that reach the limit of the realm can be transported to a greater realm. No one in the current world knows what's in the other realm but as far as history states, the new realm is the goal and destination of all Ascenders. Life as a cultivator was never easy, it's pricked with thorns and needles, both artificial and natural ones.
Hazel finally stood up after thinking about this career path that was forced upon him, no other option but to do his best. Once he officially joins the ranks of the Ascenders, would he have to say goodbye to his parents as the life expectancy of all cultivators was increased as they grow stronger.
Hazel walked around his room, making himself some dinner. He chose the classic dinner specialty, instant noodles with a fried egg. Enjoying the savory meal, he cleaned up after himself and showered noting that he had to organize his study materials not knowing if the girls had ransacked through his backpack.
Placing the torn and ripped notebooks on the desk and some of his shattered pencils aside, he couldn't help but feel anger billowing inside of him.
Hazel Illum: 'Those bastards, not only do you bully me and humiliate me, but you choose to mess around with my education and goals? Are you not even human anymore?'
Releasing his pent up rage through shadow boxing in the open living room, he spends about 30 minutes pacing back and forth imagining he was beating up the girls. Of course wouldn't do so in real life since they were without a doubt stronger than him. Exhausted from the burnt out emotions, he sat down on the couch and let his body cool down.
He went to grab a towel from the bathroom to dry off whatever sweat was on his head and walked back towards the desk to check his notes. Strangely, he noticed something off about his notes. At first glance, it appeared that his notes were all ripped and torn into a pile. But after staring for a while, Hazel couldn't help but pick out words from whatever he had written, some letters overlapping with others, some pieces of papers omitting others.
Together, these pieces of papers or torn shreds of scraps compiled new words and created new sentences. After reading everything in place, he couldn't help but contemplate what he saw.
There is nothing, no words, no rhythm. Empty and desolate space, realm one above, one next door. Humans grow and evolve, gods see no fool but see flaws. History beats the future when nothing is there, only if present can break. Highlight words that break but not help. Help words can support growth but not exceed hope. All is connected but nothing is forever, life and death don't mean they are together. Gods, Demons, Mortals, and Monsters form harmony. The link where you see doesn't tell a story. Legends tell a story but that doesn't mean there's no opportunity.
Hazel finally concluded this small paragraph of text after staring at it for god knows how long, feeling incredibly stupid as nothing within this piece of text makes sense. Hazel feeling a headache come on from stupidly trying to comprehend this piece of information out of nowhere retired to his bedroom where he proceeded to pass out.