[MC's POV]
Rays akin to luminous threads wove past the dusty glasses and tattered curtains, tracing through my sleep-heavy limbs and brushing my eyelids, forcing me to roll over. I was thinking of sleeping a bit more before I went to the same routine of rising, practicing, feeling isolated, and then sleeping again.
However, a sudden thought jolted me awake. I looked at the gleaming sun through the window; the day had progressed well past the early rise.
My legs sprinted immediately towards the bathroom to freshen up and get ready. The thought that forced me out of my lazy sleep — Awakening day. Every 1st Sunday of the month, all those who are 12 years old proceed to the 'Land of First Origin' to take part in Awakening. This process is the same for all the races living on this Mythos Planet.
About 12 years ago, I opened my eyes in the residence of one of the Overlords of Mythos Planet, the Ro'nark Family. It was a very bizarre experience for me because I remembered I had a past life, but I had no memories of who I was.
I had complete and vivid memories of eating instant noodles, every slurp and even multiple variants, but I had no recollection of what my name was. It's like someone removed the whole 'who I was part of me' and sent me into this botched reincarnation.
During my early days, I thoroughly cursed the reincarnation gods or whoever handled my shit. However, I could hear, understand, and remember everything far better than in my previous life or at least that was how I felt, so somethings were good.
Days passed as I waited for my golden finger, any kind of cheat, but even that didn't come. After about 1 year, even randomly uttering "system" and "status" and all the possible words, there was no result. Now, I had a score to settle against the one who threw me in this position.
After having no hope of any type of cheat, I focused on the outside world. I remembered meeting my mother after birth and having seen the silhouette of my father a few times. However, I never met anyone again; slowly I learned about my family and a little bit of the history of the world.
The truth was a surprise, to say the least; this world, Mythos, was actually known as Earth 10,000 years ago.
An apocalypse occurred during that timeframe; however, a Tower appeared, giving the earthlings a chance to defend themselves. That tower came to be known as the Tower of Mythus.
Many changes occurred after that in the long history of 10,000 years, but now that tower was my final hope of awakening something good that will help me get rid of the boring, isolated life and let me truly enjoy this fantasy world and the greatest wonder yet, the Tower of Mythus.
After freshening up and wearing flexible clothes, I made my way to the compound, waiting for transport. All the candidates were gathered there; within minutes, the Flying Sparrow descended to take us to the place that grants entry to the Tower.
Soon, the Sparrow flew towards our destination with us in tow. I was sitting in a corner; this isolation was the norm for me, so I wasn't much bothered.
However, I was feeling jittery today; my legs started tapping on the floor randomly. Only a single thought occupied my mind: would I be able to change my life course today?
I never heard of anyone failing an awakening on this planet. People gossip that it's because the Tower first originated here, so the Creator of the Tower gave a blessing that everyone on this planet will awaken a talent, no matter the rank.
Despite all these stories and having confidence in myself, I was feeling extra nervous. There was an uneasy feeling gnawing at me; I pushed the thought aside for now to calm myself before awakening.
An hour later we reached the Awakening nodes of the Tower. There were numerous nodes, and their number can change according to the situation.
A multitude of races were present here, forming their own line; the elven line was the closest to us, and they were wearing light body armor with their weapon of choice in hand.
There were races that I had never seen before, even if I had read about them, but today my sole focus was the humongous structure ahead of me. The Tower was made of materials that had yet to be classified, even after 10,000 years. It's one of the many mysteries of Tower.
Its height reached the edge of the atmosphere boundary of the planet; even then, one could not see its end. According to records, it looks like the Tower is disappearing or merging with the space.
Until now, no one has ever seen the top of the Tower from outside or reached the pinnacle floor on the inside. I dreamt of solving both of these mysteries when I first heard about the Tower, and today I was about to take my first step towards it.
The awakening process was very simple here; all newcomers enter one by one into awakening nodes. That particular person will undergo awakening and then proceed to the first floor of the tower.
Although awakening itself varied from person to person. The minimum requirement was possessing a talent, so everyone awakens at least their talent.
The talent ranking went from F all the way up to SSS-rank. There is also EX-rank, but those are so scarce that even in the tower it is considered a myth, which is connected to many planets and universes.
After awakening Talent, some even unlock their innate ability, which is considered rare. Such 'Players,' a term used by the Tower System, are labeled geniuses among their peers.
The rarest of awakenings is unlocking your bloodline and physique. Such phenomena are only for prodigies of Overlord families and kids of influential families. They are labeled a once-in-a-century genius in the Tower ecosystem.
The line was progressing at a steady speed; as the chance to enter the node neared, my nervousness kept increasing. My hands started sweating, and the gnawing feeling in my heart increased.
I kept consoling myself that it is just because of the waiting phase of something that would change my life from today onwards. Soon, I stood in front of the swirling white-bluish portal, the entrance to the awakening node.
Up until now, I had only heard or read about these portals, but now I was standing in front of it. The portal capable of bringing great changes to a person's life. I took a deep breath, calmed my nerves, and entered the portal to change my fate.
A wave of ethereal sensation washed over me. My body felt weightless; the fatigue and jitteriness of until now vanished for the moment.
Then the most awaited blue system panel appeared before me:
[Player Max Ro'nark detected…]
[Scanning the body for awakening…]
For a few seconds there was no further message; I was still feeling rejuvenated during this process. Then suddenly everything changed.
Beep!Beep!Beep! – A ringing reached my ears.
[ERROR!!]
[ERROR!!]
[ERROR!!]
The panel color changed to red and was full of ERROR messages.
[The Player's physical condition is not suitable for awakening]
[Awakening stopped…]
[Expelling the Player]
"No… No, no, no—!"