The Awakening Plaza was overflowing.
Thousands of people packed the stepped square from end to end, their voices blending into a constant restless noise that never quite settled. Banners hung from the surrounding towers, guild emblems gleaming in the morning light, while the great crystal suspended above the central platform gave off a pale glow that washed over everything beneath it. Parents watched with tight expressions. Recruiters stood in reserved sections with notebooks and polished smiles. Instructors kept calling for order as if that had ever worked on a day like this.
Every year, the same thing happened.
Every year, lives split apart in a matter of seconds.
A good class meant training, money, connections, a future people would actually look at with respect. A bad one meant becoming background scenery in your own life.
Leon stood somewhere in the middle of the crowd with his hands in his pockets, black hair falling carelessly over his forehead as he watched another Awakening finish on stage. A burst of blue light flared across the crystal.
"Rare Combat Class: Storm Spearman."
The square erupted.
The boy on stage looked like he was trying not to cry. His parents failed a second later. One of the guild recruiters was already moving.
Leon watched the whole thing with a flat expression. 'Right. Five seconds ago he was just some guy. Now half the city suddenly cares whether he breathes.'
Around him, the tension kept building. Some people whispered prayers under their breath. Others rehearsed confident smiles they had no business wearing yet. One broad-shouldered kid near the front kept rolling his neck like he had already decided the world was about to hand him a legendary class out of respect.
Leon glanced at him once. 'That one is getting Farmer. If there is any justice left in the universe, it will be Farmer.'
A few names were called in sequence after that.
"Shield Warrior."
Applause.
"Flame Caster."
More applause.
"Beast Tamer."
That one drew a louder reaction, enough to make several heads turn.
Each result sharpened the air further. Hope rose on one side, envy on the other, and the gap between them grew with every name spoken aloud. Leon could feel it spreading through the plaza like heat from a forge.
He still wasn't nervous. Not visibly, at least.
He wasn't stupid enough to expect some divine class with a gold-lit title and half the city kneeling on instinct, but something decent would do. Something useful. Something he could work with.
His name was finally called.
"Leon."
A few people shifted to let him through. He stepped out from the crowd and climbed the platform under the weight of a few thousand eyes. The crystal loomed above him, humming softly now, almost like it had been waiting.
Leon laid a hand on it.
Cold light rushed up his arm.
The plaza went quiet.
Then the crystal answered.
"Class Awakened..."
A beat passed.
And then the words formed in the air above him.
"Trash Merchant."
For one second, the plaza stayed silent.
Then the first laugh broke somewhere to the left.
It spread fast after that.
Leon stood beneath the crystal while the words remained suspended above him, clean and impossible to misunderstand.
Trash Merchant.
Someone in the lower rows snorted openly. Another voice followed with, "Is that even combat-related?" A few people tried to hide their reactions behind coughs and failed badly. Even those who weren't laughing had that same look on their faces, the one people wore when they were quietly relieved that someone else had ended up at the bottom instead of them.
Leon exhaled through his nose and glanced once at the text above him. 'Could've at least called it Resource Recovery Specialist. Give the humiliation a bit of professionalism.'
One of the instructors near the platform adjusted his glasses and looked at the crystal again, as if reading it twice might improve the result. It didn't. His expression settled into the sort of careful neutrality that only made things worse. Pity dressed up as composure still looked like pity.
In the recruiter section, most of the interest around the platform had already vanished. A few of them had been watching him earlier with the usual detached curiosity reserved for unknowns. That was gone now. Their attention had moved on with brutal efficiency, already waiting for the next promising class to appear.
Leon noticed that more than the laughter.
That was how the world worked. Power first, potential second, everyone else forgotten before they had even stepped off the stage.
A familiar voice rose from the crowd. "Trash Merchant? Leon, that's rough."
The sympathy was fake enough to be insulting. Leon turned his head and found Darius grinning from three rows back, broad shoulders, polished boots, the look of someone who had awakened something respectable and planned to enjoy the difference. The people beside him laughed more freely once he did.
Leon gave him a calm look. "You'll survive hearing it."
A few nearby students blinked, caught off guard by how flatly he said it. Darius's smile stiffened for a second before he let out a short laugh and shrugged as if none of it mattered.
Leon was already looking away.
The system window remained open at the edge of his vision. Most of the class details had appeared in plain text: appraisal of discarded goods, salvage recognition, trade compatibility with damaged items. Every line made the class sound exactly as pathetic as everyone assumed. Useful for scavengers, maybe. Shopkeepers at best.
Then his eyes stopped on the final line.
Unlike the rest, it had not appeared in the air for the crowd to see. It sat lower in the interface, dim at first, then sharpening as his attention settled on it.
Exclusive Skill Unlocked: [Ten Thousandfold Return System]
The laughter around him seemed to fade, not because it had actually stopped, but because Leon had stopped listening.
His gaze narrowed slightly.
That... did not sound like part of a garbage class.
Leon stepped off the platform before anyone could stop him for a consoling word he had not asked for.
The plaza had already moved on. Another name was being called. Another bright flare was gathering around the crystal. The city had no reason to linger on one failed Awakening when there were still futures worth celebrating. That suited him fine.
He cut through the outer edge of the crowd and stopped near the stone rail bordering the square, far enough that the noise blurred into something dull and distant. From here, he could still hear the occasional burst of applause whenever someone awakened something flashy. Sword classes, elemental casters, beast tamers. The usual favorites. He rested one hand on the railing and opened the interface fully.
Class: Trash Merchant
Primary Functions: Appraisal of discarded items. Recognition of salvage value. Trade compatibility with damaged goods.
Leon read the lines once, then again.
"Yeah," he muttered under his breath. "That part tracks."
Every word pointed in the same direction. Worthless in a fight. Useful only if he wanted to spend the rest of his life digging through piles of broken scrap while real Awakened climbed past him. For a second, he could almost see it clearly enough to be annoyed by how mundane the future looked.
Then his eyes returned to the final entry.
Exclusive Skill: [Ten Thousandfold Return System]
He focused on it, and the text unfolded.
Sell a qualifying item to the system. Receive a return based on type, value, and integrity.
Current Return Modes Available:
Quantity Return
Quality Return
Leon went still.
He looked around the square and spotted what he needed almost immediately. Near the side of the platform, half-hidden beside one of the temporary barriers, lay a rusted dagger someone had probably dropped or thrown aside during the ceremony. The blade was chipped. The leather wrapping around the handle had peeled halfway off. It looked like it had lost a fight against age before ever seeing battle.
Leon walked over, picked it up, and turned it once in his hand.
Damaged Iron Dagger
Grade: Common
Condition: Poor
He almost laughed.
"Perfect."
A prompt appeared the moment he willed it.
Sell this item to the system?
He selected Yes.
The dagger vanished from his hand.
A second window opened at once.
Choose Return Mode:
Quantity Return
Quality Return
Leon stared at it for a moment, then chose the second.