K-8, Madar Star System. 36 Imperial Generation, Year 67,827
A crimson-plated cylindrical transport stops right in front of the collection sign. Eight meters in height and slightly over 70 meters long, the red metallic insectoid crawler unfolds several staircases along its entire body for surface residents to float up into the transport. Lizzy enters first before Caleb follows behind; neither is worried about flying off into space after making the climb thousands of times in their 16 years of life.
Once inside the crawler, they are greeted by a bland metallic red interior, filled with silver seats for cultivators and black seats for unknowns. Floating a foot or two off the walkway, Lizzy and Caleb swing down the aisle by grabbing support bars until they go past the sections for cultivators and arrive at the section designated for unknown's; there is no section for mortals on any type of surface transport.
Unknowns are defined as children who haven't gone through the talent awakening ritual and are traditionally the only non-cultivators allowed on surface transports. This, of course, does not include the few exceptions, like Caleb's mother, but those are rare. Until a child goes through the ritual to determine if they will be a cultivator or a mortal, every single one is considered a potential cultivator. However, if during the ritual, it's determined that the unknown is mortal, they will likely spend the rest of their lives mining for qi stones underground. Unless, they have a prominent background supporting them, as Pamella does, which would prevent the now mortal from losing all access to the surface of K-8.
Gliding into the unknown section of the surface crawler, Caleb and Lizzy find it full of other unknowns from the different surface settlements who are heading to the academy. Every single unknown in the transport has at least one cultivator as a parent or guardian; every unknown that doesn't have the backing of a cultivator, lives in one of the underground cities on K-8.
Floating past the several rows inside the unknown section of the transport, Lizzy and Caleb find their seats next to Nola Parish and Jensen Blue, friends from the academy. Caleb straps into a chair with Jensen seated to his right. Lizzy quickly follows suit, fastening into a black metal chair on Caleb's left, securing themselves inside the crawler. Preventing themselves from floating off their chair or possibly down the aisle once the transport starts up again.
Nola, a shy, anxious, but sometimes clever long-haired blonde with brown eyes, greets the duo with a smile and opens a four-way comms channel between the four friends. In each person's helmet, Nola's nervous voice comes over the comms, starting the conversation as the transport begins moving across the surface of K-8 toward one of the entrances to the academy.
"Am I the only person nervous? I don't want to be broken or live in the mines till the end of my days."
Caleb gives a doubtful and questioning look at Nola in her sparkling, extravagant gold-plated exosuit before replying, "Nola, you're the least likely of the four of us to suffer a mortal's fate on K-8. Your father is powerful enough to get you a Class 1 body reforging stone if you, unfortunately, have a broken constitution after the awakening ritual."
Nola is the only daughter of a Soul Reformation cultivator, who is also the captain of the only free trade cargo ship that is allowed to make runs between K-8 and Madar M-4. Most interstellar travel is restricted by the Acker family, with Hector, Nola's father, being one of the few exceptions.
It is not difficult to understand Hector's importance and power on K-8. Take, for example, Caleb's father, who is considered someone of influence on K-8 in the body refinement stage, or the 2nd major stage of the origin cultivation. Being in the middle stage of this rank has allowed him to become a guard captain.
Now take Hector, who is in the soul reformation stage, which is the 3rd major stage of origin cultivation. Just being in the early stages of this rank has allowed Hector to command multiple body refinement cultivators in the later stages, most of whom are stronger than Caleb's father. Soul reformation cultivators are the highest level of cultivators on the asteroid, making Nola's father one of the strongest cultivators on the K-8. He might be included in the top ten strongest cultivators if a list was ever created.
"My father would kill me first, Caleb. Obtaining any type of body reforging stone comes with significant risk, even if it's for the lowest-rank stone. My father isn't excluded from these risks."
Nola was right that getting any type of body reforging stone is dangerous, causing Caleb to rethink his statement. Cultivators can only get a body reforging stone from a void beast, a dangerous type of space beast that undergoes body cultivation its entire life. These large, ugly monsters, are born in space and undergo body refinement from the moment they are born. Once they have amassed a large enough group, they attack and terrorize any structure that exists in the void of space. They will attack space stations, void vessels, or settlements on asteroids, to consume any resources they can find. Anything that doesn't have an atmosphere for protection, like planets or moons, can fall victim to void beasts.
To make the situation even worse, void beasts are born equivalent to a late-stage Qi opening cultivator; these space-faring beasts will then grow quickly to threaten body refinement and eventually soul reformation cultivators. Acquiring any grade of a body reforging stone is insanely difficult, often accompanied by perilous dangers. However, the extreme danger does not stop cultivators from risking death; there is always a steady stream of cultivators heading out to hunt void beasts for the possible riches often found in their carcasses.
The never-ending hunting sprees of void beasts are madly driven by the need to improve body constitution. Everyone who doesn't awaken a royal-grade constitution eventually needs a body-reforging stone to make further progress in cultivation. Body constitution defines the maximum stage a cultivator may reach in their lifetimes.
This talent can range from a grade 0, otherwise known as "broken constitution," to a grade 5, labeled as "royal constitution." All mortals have a grade 0 broken constitution, which has earned this constitution the nickname "a cripple's constitution." From grade 0, it goes to a standard grade one constitution, a rare grade two constitution, a phase grade three constitution, a unique grade four constitution, and finally, a royal grade five constitution.
Body constitution is only one part of a person's talent that needs to be measured during the awakening ritual; two other innate talents undergo testing, namely insight and elemental affinity.
A person's talent in insight determines how fast a cultivator will understand a star book, an origin qi cultivation manual. The higher the grade of insight talent, the quicker a cultivator will understand a star book, resulting in faster speed in cultivation compared to others with lower insight talent. The last talent measures the manipulation of origin energy, also known as elemental talent or affinity. How well a cultivator manipulates origin energy can determine the outcome of battles in the same cultivation stage alone.
Each category can determine if an unknown has the potential to cultivate. As a grade 0 is possible in insight and elemental affinity, and any grade 0 will leave the unknown a mortal. A grade 1 is essential in all three categories—body constitution, insight, and elemental affinity—for an unknown to cultivate.
Fortunately, rare resources can be used to upgrade insight and elemental affinity, just like body constitution. An insight wisp or a world gift is needed, respectively, in each category if a cultivator wants to upgrade their innate talent, but both are as dangerous to get as a body reforging stone.
Nola anxiously fiddles her fingers as the conversation turns to the more forbidden topics of cultivating. Stealing a nervous glance at Lizzy before continuing, "You should know how dangerous void beasts are, Caleb; they are the reason, after all, for your father's quick promotion to captain." In response to the statement, Caleb gives an irritated glare at Nola, whose guilty eyes are looking down, before turning to give a comforting but conflicted look at Lizzy. Through Lizzy's helmet, Caleb sees an understanding but sad expression on her face.
"Nola is right, Caleb. Void beasts are dangerous, no matter what cultivation stage you're in."
Lizzy whispers in reply over comms before looking out the window, watching the red terrain flash on by. Lizzy's mother was a previous captain of guard squad four until eight years ago when a void beast colony raided the asteroid. The attack left Lizzy's mother, Eleanor, ripped in two by several void beasts before being devoured bit by bit. Leaving only a small chewed-up chest for the funeral ceremony.
After her death, Eleanor's squad lieutenant at the time of the raid was promoted to captain, who just happened to be Lizzy's godfather and the best friend of Luke Horton, Lizzy's father. He only survived as captain for 3 years before losing his head to a void beast, having it bitten right off. It was a quick death, which left a decent amount of his body for the funeral, a rarity for cultivators. Though that didn't bring any comfort to Lizzy, she still had a funeral to attend; that wouldn't change no matter the condition of the body.
Following Lizzy's godfather's death, Ernest, who was just a regular guard for less than 15 years, was promoted to captain. He has been in charge of guard squad four ever since and has been lucky enough to avoid fighting any void beasts during his time in command. This is almost unheard of for a five-year command on K-8. Caleb places his hand on Lizzy's, hoping that she will find some comfort and warmth in the action, before joining her in watching the terrain flash by through the transport windows.
"Well, you guys certainly know how to bring up cheery topics right before a possible doomsday."
Attempting to bring up the group's depressed mood is Jensen, the joker of the four friends. 171 cm tall with brown hair and brown eyes, Jensen gives off the vibe of being one of the most innocent and harmless persons in the world. This is the exact opposite of his personality, as Jensen is almost always causing trouble of some sort. It's only through luck or coincidence he often gets away with the mischief he creates, that's unless the people around the chaos he created know his personality.
"Today is the awakening ritual; plenty can go wrong, but also plenty can go right, so everyone should look towards the bright side. Well, all of us except for Caleb, as this is the first time I've seen him so nervous. Did you already awaken a broken constitution and just decide to hide it, my friend?"
Annoyed at the jest, Caleb quickly throws back a half-hearted insult at Jensen.
"I am your friend? I didn't know of this."
The two girls giggle at the shenanigans of the two boys, which lightens up the atmosphere that was originally dismal after talking about the danger of cultivating. With smiles on all their faces except for Caleb, the group of four gets ready to leave the transport as the entrance to the academy comes into view from one of the surface crawlers' windows.