Thirteen years ago.
The gymnasium buzzed with teenagers—over two hundred of them—packed shoulder to shoulder, vibrating with excitement and that sharp nervous energy that came with knowing your whole life might change in the next few minutes. Aiden Jus stood somewhere in the middle of the line, his palms damp and jaw clenched, trying not to stare too hard at the Awakening Stone as it flared again for the kid ahead of him.
The stone really was something. Each time someone awakened, it burst with color and raw energy, scattering tiny sparks of mana across the pedestal like fireworks for just that one person. Everyone said the first time mana entered your body, it felt like a shock straight to the soul. The stone made sure the entire gym could see it.
Thirty kids had gone before him so far. Twenty-three had awakened—some with elemental affinity, some with physical enhancements, a few with rare skill manifestations that had the instructors whispering to themselves. The unlucky ones had walked off the stage stiffly, wearing forced smiles while their parents tried to pretend everything was fine in the stands.
The girl ahead of him stepped up. She was small, brunette, and had glasses slipping down her nose. Her eyes were so wide she looked like she might faint. She pressed her shaking hand to the stone—
And it exploded in a brilliant white light.
Boom!
Symbols swirled above it, glowing and real, shifting until they rearranged themselves into words.
"Mana core awakened! Healing affinity detected! Potential rating: B-rank!" the instructor called out.
The gym erupted. People clapped, some even whistled. The girl stumbled back in tears as her friends practically tackled her with hugs. Her entire future had just been handed to her. She could go to a hunter academy, be part of guild recruitment, and support raids. Healers were treasured everywhere.
Aiden swallowed hard as the line moved on.
'Please,' he begged inwardly, heart pounding against his ribs. 'Just… let it work. I don't care what I get.'
The line crawled forward. A boy in front, with dirty blonde hair, awakened lightning enhancement.
Another girl manifested a defensive barrier skill. Then there was the kid who got dual affinities—fire and earth—which instantly shut the gym up. Envy practically thickened the air at how lucky he was.
But there were those who failed to awaken. A tall red-haired boy walked off with his jaw tight when the stone didn't even flicker. Another girl two places ahead cried so hard her mother had to pull her gently from the platform.
The instructor had warned them earlier—about the seventy percent success rate and the sad truth that thirty percent would never awaken anything. Aiden had spent the last week praying he wouldn't be one of them.
"Next! Aiden Jus!"
His legs didn't feel like legs anymore, more like jelly pretending to have bones. He climbed the platform and faced the Awakening Stone—a smooth, oval crystal, basketball-sized, perched on a bronze pedestal covered in ancient runes that pulsed faintly from the dozens of awakenings.
Aiden's stomach clenched as he eyed the stone. Staring at it only made the anxiety worse.
The instructor looked kindly at him, her brown eyes soft. "Relax and place your hand on the stone, sweetheart. Let the mana come on its own."
He managed a nod. Barely. Then he pressed his shaking hand to the cold surface. His eyes fluttered close as he waited for the spark, the heat, the surge. But nothing came.
Five seconds.
Ten.
The murmurs in the crowd faded into a tense stillness.
Fifteen seconds and someone coughed loudly at the back.
Aiden carefully cracked his eyes open. "Is it… supposed to take this long?"
"Sometimes it's slow," the instructor answered, though her smile faltered at the edges. "Keep your hand there."
Twenty seconds.
Thirty.
Fifty.
Whispers started behind him, sharp little needles in the air.
"Another dud?"
"That's the eighth today."
"Poor kid."
One full minute passed and the instructor exhaled softly, pity creeping into her expression. She touched his wrist and gently moved his hand away. "I'm sorry, Aiden. Not everyone awakens. You didn't do anything wrong. You can still live a wonderful life."
The words stung worse than shouting would have. The kind of soft, careful tone people used to make failure sound smaller than it felt.
He walked back through the crowd in a daze. A few sympathetic stares followed him; while most people were already watching the next child step up. He wasn't anything special to look at, not even in failing. Just another percentage on a chart.
His parents picked him up an hour later. His mother kept wearing that bright, shaky smile that didn't fool him for a second. His father talked a little too loudly about universities, careers, successful people with no mana—like that businessman with the restaurant chain.
But no one said the words out loud. The fact that he had failed, or that he was ordinary and powerless.
But Aiden heard them anyway.
In a world where hunters fought monsters and became legends, he wasn't even a footnote. Just another kid who'd get left behind while extraordinary people built extraordinary lives.
That was thirteen years ago.
The silence of that moment had never really stopped following him.