Koizumi Aizu is a lazy gamer living in the 254th Sector, one of the lowest sector of Society Sphere. She lives in a world where supernatural powers exists, and it can be acquired by almost everyone.
Despite being admitted to an awakened academy, a school for people who awakened with their superpowers, her purpose in life is to live peacefully without having to work hard for her life.
She managed to acquire a power that might grant her wish of a peaceful and lazy life. Though it is unsure if she can stay with her plan due to the craziness of the superpowers of this world, which she will discover sooner...
This is her story on how she will live with the power to multiply everything she possessed...
Hello, I am Levelgap. Also, sorry because I am making another story again.
I was stuck just looking at my screen anytime I tried continuing Non-entity Isekai. I just... can't find how to continue it. I know what I want to happen, but the words just doesn't appear in my mind.
And I wanted to write! But I don't feel any motivation to continue anything...
That's why I am making a new story. I know this is bad, but I really want to write something and refresh my mind with something.
The basic premise of this story is about a young teenage girl acquiring the power to double everything she possessed. It was left vague like that because she can literally multiply what she got by two.
The setting will be set in an alternate Earth, and it will be a mix of urban fantasy, battle academy genre with a hint of post apocalyptic elements in it.
I hope you have fun with this story.
The red skies were covered with thick black smog. The land barren and dry. There were cracks all over the destroyed surroundings. Only the ruins of a proud castle made of obsidian and crystals remains. Swords and spears littered the ground, and the mixed carcass of both humans and monsters followed these horrendous sight.
In the middle of these bloody scenery is a man with his limbs sprawled all over. Fatigued was evident on his bruised and bloodied body as he stared at the sky with his eyes that barely reflected the droll sight above.
An outside observer would thought of him dead, but there was still a single thought running through his mind.
'Did I... win...?'
As he laid on the dry and barren ground, a miracle occured. The sky parted and light illuminated his prone form. Despite his blurry vision, he can clearly see the sight in front of him.
"Oh, brave hero! You have slain the threat of this world, and has saved this lands! This world will be forever grateful to your selfless heroics!" A voice echoed within his mind. The tone of the voice indicates it was a female speaker. "... And... I apologized for always relying on your aid..."
His mouth opened but nothing escaped his lips. Though within his mind, he was internally shaking his head and spoke casually within his mind.
'It is... fine...'
"You always answered the call of duty. Protecting the innocent and saving worlds. Your life has been filled with hardships. Not once did you complain and only do what must be done. For a hundredth time, you have served humanity as their champion. I felt it unfair that you always act selflessly... do you desire something...?"
The man, the brave hero who charged on this bastion of evil and destroyed the terrific demon lord for the sake of humanity gazed blankly on the skies, his breathing slowed.
'Desire...?'
"Yes. I can't do anything to your current body, but maybe in your next life... do you want something? Maybe to be a ruler?"
'A wish... right... I have a single wish...'
The question of the mysterious woman sparked a memory within his fading consciousness. He opened his mouth, and spoke of the only thing that he wanted.
'I want... to live in peace...'
A soft gasp echoed on his mind, before slowly it turned into a sigh.
"I see."
With that, an echoing noise resounded everywhere on this ruins. A sound akin to glass bells ringing with chimes echoed as the skies brightened. The dark clouds parting and the red skies slowly turning golden.
"Rest now, brave warrior. You have done enough to humanity. By my authority, this man shall now live in peace!"
A declaration has been made. This was followed by the world trembling for a moment.
"Wake up..."
And so they heard a voice, as the whole world shook a lot more...
"I said wake up!" "Ouch!"
Startled, Koizumi Aizu woke up with a start. Her hand holding onto her forehead as she looked around in a panic.
"Finally. You're going to be late, Aizu!"
On the side is a brown haired man with emerald colored eyes. The same as hers, though her eyes are blue. His hand was still in a chopping posture as he looked at her with a troubled look.
"Late...?" She looked at the side of the wall while rubbing one of her sleepy eyes. Then her body froze as she saw the where those clock hands are pointed at the wall clock.
In only a moment, her body immediately got into action. With a swiftness that doesn't reflect her lax attitude awhile ago, she moved around her room. It took awhile before her brother saw her carrying her change of clothes and a towel.
"Why didn't you wake me earlier!?"
"You're the one who kept sleeping!" Her brother exclaimed.
And so Aizu's day started like that. "Ugh... I told you to stop playing games late at night and sleep early!" Her brother sighed to the side after he put a plate of sandwich and egg on her table. "Now come, eat your breakfast, and stop playing with your phone."
"Wait... give me a minute. I'll be done with my dailies in a moment!" So she said. Her eyes focused on her phone as she played with it.
"Didn't you know what day is it? I thought you are excited to learn about your innate abilities?"
"That's fine. I read the memo. It's not like we need to be early for our ability awakening!" She grumbled and after a moment of poking her screen, she sighed and turned off her phone. "Okay fine, I'll eat my breakfast now and get ready." She said in a whine, before she started by putting her whole egg on her sandwich and eating it altogether.
"Eat properly." Her brother sighed once more.
After the breakfast the two left the house after making sure their door was locked. She looked at her brother putting the keycard for their house's access on his shoulder bag before she turned to him.
"Hey... I'm already in high school anyway. Can't I have a keycard of my own?"
Her brother narrowed his eyes at her in suspicion. "Why? Are you planning to ditch class this early in the year?"
"Of course not! I just don't want to always wait for you whenever I go back early!" She crossed her arms in a pout.
"Right..." His eyes still gazed at her suspiciously before his lips quirked up. "Well, it was bad of me to always hold onto it. You need to be responsible for yourself now that you are in highschool. I'll think about it." She pumped her fist at that.
Then they looked forward as they walked. Sometimes they stopped as the floating holographic lights that indicates go and stop signs appeared around them. After they got at least a few yards away from their home, they finally stopped on the path to a stairs to the subway. A green holographic light with the words of "Available" floating on it.
"I'll be going now. Make sure you get to your class, or else I will be very disappointed..."
"Don't worry. This is the first day of school, so of course I will attend there!" She pouted for a moment, while her brother just chuckled for a bit.
After he waved at her, she finally felt somewhat free that she looks around before resuming her walk. Society Sphere. A continent-sized artificial biosphere was the only place where humanity thrives. It's been a thousand years since it has been established, and many people only knew life inside this biosphere.
Society Sphere was separated by super cities they only call as Sectors. There are a total of 255 Sectors. The number of the Sectors indicates the ranking of those who lives within those super cities.
Koizumi Aizu is a resident of the 254th Sector. A normal person who unfortunately has no natural ability that she awakened with. There are those who are gifted with powers since birth, and those who needs an aid to stimulate their powers and awaken it.
One of those aid is the Ascension Project. A new technological marvel within the Society Sphere which awakens the dormant abilities of every people. It has a 90% chance of success, the highest one since the establishment of Society Sphere.
Many people dreamed of getting powers since their childhood. They wanted to join the greatest awakened groups that exists within the Society Sphere or even rise to the top and get to the higher sectors like Sector 1 or Sector 2. Others just wanted to get rich when they get powers, just like Aizu herself.
She only has a shallow reason why she wanted to be rich.
"I want to live the rest of my life without working!"
A word spouted out of self-interest. A desire to live the life of a sloth. That was Koizumi Aizu, who wanted to spend her life playing games and having a good life at the comfort of her home.
Unlike her brother who is a student on a higher sector due to a scholarship, she was the type of student who doesn't do their best and barely passes their grades to advance to the next year. It is why she is only admitted to a local awakened school, which while it is pretty large like that of a market district, for the standards of Society Sphere it is incredibly small.
She only managed to get to this school because of her brother. She was thankful, but her core personality of being uninterested and just focusing on her own hobbies resulted in her own not being that intrigued to go to school.
'I will admit it's a lot larger than the normal academy I attend this last year, but it is still school. I already read the pamphlet, and the schedule just makes me depressed...' She thought with a shake.
This school, while being an awakened school, still acts like a normal one. Along with the practical testing of their powers that only happens once a week, they still include the majority of normal subjects for the student's education.
And she hated school.
First day at highschool and she is already being bored. The only thing she felt somewhat thankful for is that this school doesn't restrict their use of their gadgets. So as she stands at the opening ceremony on this wide campus dome, her eyes were focused on her phone. Playing a Gacha Game and doing some of her dailies.
Even when the student council president were speaking on the front stage of this large dome structure, she doesn't care. The friendly chatter of the people around her were even ignored. She won't admit that she felt a bit alienated at the people around her as they kept discussing about topics she has no knowledge of.
All topics that includes the latest fashion trends, the hottest girls, the popular boys, some of the popular groups, what they wanted in the future, etc. Stuff that she can't keep up as she only knew about games and animes.
"... and this is where I will conclude my speech. I hope we have a great year together, and this school hopes that a budding talent awakens amongst us!"
When she noticed the majority of the students standing up and clapping, she too stood up without really following along with them. Her head still lowered and tapping on the screen of her phone.
She unconsciously followed along as the other first year students go to a single room where the awakening process is being held. She can hear the sounds of excitements from the students as they lined up. The second and third years behind them moves on the other side, some staying to watch the procession of the awakening process.
There are teachers who are watching this too on some other rooms. All of it unnoticed by her as she concentrated on her gameplay.
It is when she is done that it was her turn on the line.
"Put your phone down and enter this capsule."
She flinched and then quickly obeyed. Putting the phone on her pocket before she entered the large silver capsule with a uniformed lineup of mechanisms barely exposed on it's gaps. As she entered within, the operator of the machine told her to stand still and she did so.
'Hm?' Cold air causes her body to shiver, startled. A blue light covered the whole interior of the capsule. 'Wow...' In her eyes are multiple sights that looks magical and digital at the same time.
Outside, the teachers watching gazed at the large screen above the capsule that showed the potential of the student who entered the awakening machine. When they saw the letter "F" on the screen, most of them shook their head.
After the light show ends, Aizu walked away with a dazed look. The other students stared at her with pity, and the operator just shook his head before gesturing for her to leave. Even as she left the room in a dazed that she unconsciously took the paper handed to her by one of the staff just besides the exit door, she was still gazing blankly on the air.
"... What is this?" She wondered to herself as she saw something that unseen by anyone else.
[Doubling] (Divine Class)
You can multiply anything you possessed by two permanently on a daily basis!
Along with that prompt, a strange warmth can be felt within her chest. It was noticeable that her attention can't help but be distracted by it.
"... Is this my innate ability?" She tilted her head with a raised eyebrow. Though slowly her eyes turned bright as a smirk formed on her lips. "Multiplying anything I possessed... then what if I want to multiply my credit balance?"
It was spoken in a joking manner, though her eyes widened as a prompt occured.
At the same time she saw that, her phone vibrated within her pocket. She took it out and opened it. A gasped escaped her lips after she saw the notification on her lock screen.
Written on her notification was a money transfer. The sender is unknown. The amount of money written there is the same amount of money she currently have in her balance.
She didn't notice it but the warmth within her chest vanished after that prompt occured. Her mind is more preoccupied about this new discovery.
"This is... the best power!!!"
Excitement bloomed within her heart as she jumped in happiness. She didn't care about the feeling of the gaze of the others, as her mind is stuck imagining her future to be lazy!
"God truly loves me! Hahahaha!"
The others glanced at her, before they whispered into each other as they distanced themselves at her laughing figure. Of course, she didn't notice all of that in her glee.
Because I am stuck with my other stories, I decided to write another one. Yep, I am an idiot...
I hope you find this story interesting too...
If you want to support me, you can go to my Kofi account here.
"So, you want to bring peace to another world full of strife... That's so noble and kind of you!"
"What? No, that's not what I mean-"
"Your wish has been granted!"
"FUUUU-"
Outside, the teachers watching gazed at the large screen above the capsule that showed the potential of the student who entered the awakening machine. When they saw the letter "F" on the screen, most of them shook their head.
After the light show ends, Aizu walked away with a dazed look. The other students stared at her with pity, and the operator just shook his head before gesturing for her to leave.
"Oh no. A divine ability. Poor girl."
"And yet... Sacrifices must be made. For the greater good."
"Indeed. Now it's out of our hands. Only a matter of time, before the Demons demand her soul in exchange for not destroying the whole district."
Aizu was happy with the class. She just discovered awhile ago that she was put on the worst class which is the Class 1-12 for the first year. Though it doesn't matter to her as she only cared about her own convenience. That convenience being that she won't have to think of keeping up with her grades.
The paper she got after leaving the room for awakening abilities is a list for her schedule and her section for this school. Along with that are some important rules that she read, which made her giddy as she learned that this school doesn't care even if the students play with their gadget all day.
"Thank you Onii-chan for admitting me to an awakened school!" She muttered under her breathe.
The class is a sociable bunch. Despite being the first day, they were already chattering to each other despite their homeroom teacher entering and introducing themselves. Their homeroom teacher only asked for them to introduce themselves too, and state their abilities one by one.
"My name is Otodera Yuuki. I acquired the ability to be two times faster than my base speed!"
"Good morning everyone, I am Lisa Walker. As for my ability, it was called the Floral Pattern. I can mark anything with flowery designs!"
"I'm Eduardo Papel. I have the ability to flip perfectly!"
Most of the students has useless abilities like the last two above. A certain few has useful ones.
This has been the norms for many who got their powers through the Ascension Project. It is obvious that those whose powers lay dormant and didn't surfaced since their childhood must be a weak power. Many who undergoes the Ascension Project will only get low tier abilities.
The abilities varies from useless to slightly useful ones like two times of enhancement with one of their capabilities, increase in intelligence, increase in a particular talent, etc.
It was extremely rare for those who has undergone awakening through the Ascension Project to acquire a strong ability. There was a one in a ten thousand chance for someone to have an inmate ability that lays dormant within them that is strong. Those kind of abilities usually surfaced since childhood.
But there are examples of those who acquired strong power after awakening it through the Ascension Project. So the Ascension Project was not deemed a failure. It even increased the populace who became more productive because of most of the citizens acquiring their dormant innate skills.
The awakening tool can't lie. It has undergone hundreds of years of development that it was extremely accurate on it's assessment after the ability has been stimulated and awakened within a person.
"Hi. I'm Koizumi Aizu. My ability is Doubling."
This is why, despite the name of her ability, none minded it so much. Because everyone in this class are F ranks. The lowest of the low when it comes to ability rankings.
The assessment goes from F to A, and further advanced with the rank S, SS, SSS, and X. F being the weakest and X being the strongest categorization of an ability. There are many variables why it was ranked like that, but the basic premise was that the ranking indicates how potent and dangerous it is if that power is pointed at the humanity itself.
This meant that an F rank ability is an ability that is ineffective against humanity as a whole, and the X rank abilities are abilities that can casually wipe out humanity. That was the general basis that people widely accepted to this day.
It is why, as someone who got an F Rank ability, people will consider her ability as the weakest. They won't care what are the effects of her ability. They will only look at the rank.
And she liked that because that would mean there will be no one to look for her. Unlike the others who are depressed at the results of their power, she was the only one who saw this as a blessing.
"... Now, if I can use it again... maybe it has a cooldown period?" Even as she muttered that under her breathe, she was busily playing with her phone. She haven't paid any attention to the teacher who was telling them about the schedule of their school, and the lessons they will get for the coming days.
Just like what she muttered under her breathe, she can't use her power anymore. She thought it might have a cooldown, though she doesn't know how long.
'Do I really have to wait until tomorrow?' She thought, recalling about the daily thing on the description of her ability. 'Hmm... well that is fine. It's not like anything bad would happen right?' So she thought. There wasn't much to do on their first day at school. For the first years anyway, they mostly have a free day to do what they want and familiarize themselves on their class.
Aizu was ecstatic after learning about that. So she spent the whole day just playing on her phone until lunch time arrived. That was when she recalled about something.
"Oh right, I should tell Onii-chan about the results of my awakening." She forgot after she dreamt of her future for an easygoing life. She tabbed out of her game and then go to her contacts.
Her contacts barely has anything in it. The only number saved at her contact was from her brother, and the others are the former contact numbers from her brother before he changed phone and sims.
She didn't hide anything from her big brother and just told him the truth. The effects of her power and how it classifies itself as a Divine Class. The results of the awakening machine's assessment for her ability. She have no intention of keeping that to herself.
Even when she had a shameless dream of being a sloth, she was very grateful for her brother. Since the day their parents passed away, it was her brother who continued taking care of her. Seeing how hard her brother works to sustain both of them caused her to wish for a life where they don't have to work for the future.
[... With this power, we don't have to go and do those dangerous jobs. We can just stay at our home and slack all day we want!]
Satisfied with the latter part of her text, she sent it to her brother before she stretched her arms, loosening her stiffened muscles due to having played since this morning.
"Ah, I'm hungry. Should I look at the cafeteria?" She stood up and then walked out of the room. She carried her shoulder bag which contained her lunch box that her brother prepared for her. "I was just done doing all my dailies from the online mobile games I've been playing, so I have some free time before the day resets." She muttered under her breathe.
She also thought that since she was a student of this school, she should familiarize herself on this school. So as she walked out of the room, she wandered the halls for a bit until she found a holographic bored detailing the map of the first year building.
"So the cafeteria is just a few bends away from our classroom. Ugh... I took a wrong turn then..." She sighed, before turning on the other direction.
Now that her mind was not preoccupied with her own delusions and her phone, she finally noticed the look of the pristine hallways. The smooth gray floor and the white walls and ceiling gave it a clean and professional vibe. She saw some flat circular cleaning bots moving around and dodging students as they skillfully cleaned the floors.
The windows, and even the door looked brand new. There wasn't a hint of wear or used on them even when this school was said to have been in operation for two decades now. On each end of this room are stairs to get to the next floor. The path to the Cafeteria was in the middle, just at the north edge on the first floor of this building.
"Hm?" She perked up as she noticed the crowd of students became numerous as she got closer. She noticed that they were clamoring about something, and they weren't talking about the food on the cafeteria.
"The very first A rank awakener of this school? I wonder who she is?"
"She is there on the cafeteria right now. They were giving her the special treatment!"
"Really?"
"How lucky, getting to eat good food for free just because she got a higher rank than us..."
"There's nothing we can do about it. Even the former strongest in this school is only Rank C."
"Won't she get snatched by the other schools?"
"Don't tell this to anyone, but I heard the teachers are going to give her favorable treatment so she doesn't go to other school!"
"What is her ability called?"
"They said it was pretty strong!"
She tuned out most of what they were saying as she entered the cafeteria. From there she saw many crowding on a certain part of this cafeteria. That specific corner was crowded, so Aizu walked to the other corner which was uncrowded and have a lot of space to walk with. She took an empty seat and then looked at the crowd of students.
"Hm... it's not like that matters." She said with a shrug before she looked around the cafeteria. She was a bit curious about the cafeteria. "It is wide... and there are a wide variety of food to choose from..." She muttered under her breathe before she shrugged. "Welp, Onii-chan's cooking is a lot more appetizing!"
And so she took the lunch box from her bag and started to eat. She ignored the commotion of the students clamoring as they crowded that specific corner of this room. As Aizu was focused on her lunch, on the crowded corner of the this room was the one that was making waves on this school. The very first artificially awakened student who got a Rank A assessment was eating as the adults are surrounding her.
"What do you think of our chef's best cuisines?" The balding old man rubbed his hands together as he watched her in anticipation.
"Hmph... it is acceptable." The girl they were talking to was the one who achieved it. The person that acquired the Rank A ability at the awakening process.
Her name is Selena Zephes. She was a blonde haired girl with sharp looking blue eyes. Her hair styled in curly twintails. She has an expression and posture that signified confidence. It bordered the line of arrogance by the way she looked at the people around her.
Despite the way she looked at them, the teachers around acted humble. They were in the current process of pleasing her with any means. They're desire evident for her to stay in their school.
It is understandable why they are like that. Despite being the best school for the awakened people at this sector, they weren't that special for Society Sphere. The most they got are artificially awakened students who have Rank C abilities. It was strong, but the difference between a Rank C and a Rank A is like heaven and earth.
The management wanted to get ahead in life too. They're only chance was to become lucky and acquire a student with a higher rank. For the upcoming Ranking Tournament that was held every six months, having a student with a strong power will raise their rankings on Society Sphere.
By raising their ranks, they can finally leave this sector and move to a higher sector where the quality of life were much higher than those at the lower ones. It was the dream of those who lived within Society Sphere to become very successful by settling on a higher ranking sector.
So they were trying their best to curry favors with the young lady as much as they can.
"How much is all of this?"
"You don't have to worry about that, Miss Zephes. Everything in this cafeteria is free for you!" Even the respectable principal of this school, a middle aged woman who rarely shows themselves, was acting deferential towards her. "We are also taking care of the papers, and will be giving you scholarship for your whole three years of stay in this school."
"... That's good." She nodded as she waved her hand. A golden glow dimly lit up on the empty spot on her table, and suddenly a heavy thud occurs as a few bars of gold appeared, stacked on top of each other. "I'm in a good mood! Today, I will pay all of your meals!" She turned her gaze at the crowd of students who are clamoring as they watched her in awe.
"How benevolent, Miss Zephes!" The principal and the other teachers gushed at her.
They weren't bothered at the gold bars that she suddenly manifested. Objects created by powers are accepted at Society Sphere, and were even heavily encouraged by the overall government to be used. They weren't scared of overinflation as most of the technology that runs everything in Society Sphere required stupendous amounts of various resources, both mundane and esoteric ones.
Gold was not even that precious in this nation, but it still have a decent prize on the local market when sold in bulk. The amount she created was enough to feed all the students crowding around her.
And even if it wasn't enough, she can simply create more. Selena Zephes won't go back on her word.
'Amazing... by having this kind of power, my life changes this drastically!' A small crept up on her lips. 'There is no need to go out of my way and change schools. If they are going to go this far, then I must accept it. I'm sure I can raise the ranking of this school, and it will be my thanks for them for awakening my powers!'
Those were the thoughts that were running on her mind. Regardless of how fine they were living within this sector, it was considered living poorly on Society Sphere standards. The life standards of a citizen within Society Sphere was incredibly high. Not just the comfort of life, even the luxury they will get will become the norm if they get to the higher districts.
As a resident of Sector 254, life here was already considered hard. A life where they have to constantly work to have something they could eat, or not having much in the way of payment that they can barely sustain themselves for a week. It was hard for them. Eating low quality produced, and seeing the same scenery over and over again.
She wanted to rise, and now that she got the opportunity, she will grasped it. Elevating the rank of the school was just a bonus for her.
'And... I might get addicted to this...'
The praises she were getting was new to her. It was unlike her past school year where she was mostly ignored. By staying on this school, she can enjoy being worshipped by the people around her.
"Hm?" She was feeling so high and mighty when she noticed it from the corner of her eyes. As the students crowding her left to order their food after her declaration of paying for them, she saw a normal looking girl who was stuck looking at her phone.
It was Aizu who was just done eating. She didn't even glanced at Selena as she left the cafeteria.
"... Huh?"
She was surprised. Everyone from this school since she got her powers were looking at her. Even those who are shy or antisocial at least took a glance at her way. Though that one didn't even bother to do so.
She frowned for a moment, before she shook her head. 'It's still the first day. Some people still didn't know me yet!' She thought, as she nodded to herself. She convinced herself that it was just a coincidence.
Though this gave her a drive to develop her powers more, and get some achievements as soon as possible. If she became well-known, her dream of a happy luxurious life full of people admiring her won't just be a pipe dream. This she swore to her heart.
Why am I having a hard time writing words!?!?
It seems like I am unused to this new writing style. Though, I'll force myself to be used to it so I can update daily once more... I hope...
If you want to support me, you can go to my Kofi account here.
"This is nice, everyone praising me and paying attention... except that single girl. You shall become my rival! I will make you acknowledge me."
"What? No, just leave me alone you crazy girl. I don't care about any of that."
"Gasp! How do you keep resisting? This clearly means I must ESCALATE."
"Nooooo."
Nothing much happened on the first day of her school. First years were mostly given free time so they can roam around the school and familiarize themselves.
Aizu boarded the bus back to her home. On the seats of the bus, there was a panel on their front that they can use to indicate where they wanted to go. She was used to seeing the map of Sector 254 so with a simple zoom in, she chose her residence as the bus drove by itself.
Public transport services like these buses are operated automatically by artificial intelligences. This is one of the perks on living on Sector 254, unlike Sector 255 which didn't have AI support in their lives.
She looked outside the windows. She watched the scenery of the city as the bus drove itself. The sky high skyscrapers, floating billboards that advertised some sort of product, flying drones that were carrying stuff, etc. These has been the norms of this city.
Her eyes turned to the people within the bus and then frowned as she noticed some who carried thin objects. Those are the latest phone models being sold on the next higher sector. The costs alone is at the middle of the five digit mark.
Her credit balance was only 200 this morning and it turned 400 after she used her powers for it. Her phone that she used was an old model, it's age already approaching a decade.
"With this doubling ability, I only need to wait for a few days and focus on multiplying my wealth. Upgrading my phone into a new one won't be a dream anymore!"
With a plan made within her mind, she goes back to her phone. She opened it and then browsed the internet for a moment.
"New rising stars at the Association, not interested. A crime lord at the Sector 252? Hmm... that's the location of the school where my Onii-chan is attending, isn't it?" She tilted her head before she shook it. "There is no need to worry. Onii-chan has a strong power. It was the Sector 252 so it was safer there than our Sector, right?"
She took her mind out of that and then browsed for something else. Her eyes lit up as she looked at an official website of one of the games she was playing.
"Oh, a new event! I have to set the date to remind me!" All thoughts about the outside world became a background to her as her full concentration was on her game. Their residence is pretty small. It only has two floors on it, and they were at the edge of the residential district. So they were a bit near on the sky high buildings when they left their house.
Just near their house, there was an arcade that was still operational. Most of the games within the arcade are popular ones a hundred years ago, but were now obscure. Many children and some adult running on nostalgia occasionally visited this arcade to play the games here.
[Where are you, Onii-chan? I'm already back at our home!]
[Sorry Aizu. You know how far this school is. I'll get back there soon, I'm already at the subway.]
[Okay.]
She sighed before changing the tab of her phone to her game. The day has been reset from some of her games so she was finishing her dailies once more. She was sitting on one of the chairs at the corner of this arcade. Using this arcade as a waiting shed.
The arcade was pretty noisy. There were many fun looking booths around, though it was considered low tech for Society Sphere. The graphics looked realistic, but games in Society Sphere was a declining industry. These tech were a hundred years old. There was no advancement since then.
There were some who made virtual reality games, but those were extremely expensive. Those at the Sector 199 and above can play those games without worrying on their finances.
"Five credits for a single game? No way!" Aizu shook her head.
"So you are there Aizu." She looked up and saw the good natured old man who owned this arcade. In his hands are two chocolate and vanilla ice cream in a cup.
"Ah..."
"Don't worry. It's my treat. Here!"
Aizu felt a bit embarrassed, but she still accepted the kind gesture and took a cup.
"You look gorgeous on your uniform, Aizu. I heard you got admitted to an awakened school by your brother."
"Yes, Uncle Zhou. It was a single bus ride to get there. If I recall correctly, it was the St. Angela's Academy."
"That prestigious academy for this Sector. How lucky. I hope my son also got into an awakened school..."
Aizu felt a bit awkward at that. She knew this man is one of those very rare powerless people who have failed to awaken their abilities even with the Ascension Program.
These are rare, but were still prevalent. They were known as the trash of the society. They have no chance of rising to the top, and are doomed to stay at either the Sector 254 or Sector 255.
"By the way, have you awakened with your innate ability? What is your Ability?"
"It's nothing special. Just a Rank F ability called Doubling." She tried to answer casually.
"I see... don't worry about that child. It was already lucky you got a power. That will make you successful in the future!" The old man smiled at her.
He thought she might be depressed, but she wasn't. She really preferred being underestimated so no one would look at her.
"Anyway, thanks for the ice cream Uncle Zhou." After she was done eating, she continued playing with her phone.
"You haven't changed at all. Still playing with that old model?"
"We don't have money. Though, I'm sure soon I'll get enough to buy Auvuz X90! At that time I will get to play all those high end games like Fantasy World Conquest!"
The old man smiled wryly. "You dream big. That costs 50,000 credits. That's a hundred times my weekly salary, young girl!"
"I have powers now, so I think I can get it!"
"Haha, you jest. Even your brother haven't gotten that much despite being a student from a higher sector."
"Meh, he doesn't have to work anymore. I will sustain both of us!" She heard the old man chuckling. "What?"
"Nothing. It was just surprising for you to say that..."
She blinked her eyes for a moment, before she smirked in a smug way. "Of course, I will do that without working!"
The old man shook his head at the nonsense she was spouting. "Okay, I'll get back to my work. Are you staying here?"
"No. Onii-chan is going to be here soon. I'm just waiting for him."
"Ah... you're already at highschool. He should have given you a copy of your house's keycard." The old man shook his head in disappointment.
"That's what I kept telling him!"
After their talk, she resumed playing with her phone until her brother came to get her. "Ah, I missed you my home!~"
"Hey, take off your shoes before entering!"
She quickly took off her shoes haphazardly before she entered the living room. Her brother sighed at her as he took the shoes she haphazardly took off and put them on the proper shelf.
Already, she was laid on the couch relaxing as she played with her phone. When her brother saw that as he entered, another sigh escaped his lips.
"Changed out of your clothes first before playing with your phone."
"Wait.. I'm currently in a raid right now. Give me a few minutes!"
"... How's the battery of your phone? I've seen you online in our chat since this morning."
"Don't worry. This phone can run for two days more!"
As she said, even older phones can run at longer times due to the advancement in technology. The battery life of her phone lasts for two weeks before she has to charge it for a single hour. Even charging their phone is efficient due to the advancement.
"Charge it later. I heard it was bad to drain your phone's battery too much."
"Well, my powers can simply make me enough wealth to buy another phone of this model. Isn't this a 500 credit phone?"
He stopped for a moment. He was taking off his uniform, and was preparing to wash himself from the bath while they were talking. He simply resumed on his actions after awhile.
"You said you got the power to double everything you possessed, right?"
"Yes, and I tested it this morning. It was true. My credit balance suddenly doubled!" She stopped playing with her phone and peeked up from the couch. A large grin on her lips as she looked at him.
Her brother stopped for a moment and contemplated about it for a bit, before he spoke. "What about testing if you could multiply something you own other than money? Maybe use it on your clothes, or onyour phone? Maybe even something vague like your power or something?" His words sparked an idea within her.
"... Onii-chan, you are a genius!"
She was stuck with the thought of multiplying her wealth only. Though there was another thing she can multiply. If it was anything she possessed, then she can simply multiply it. Like her own strength, or her own power!
"I'll try that tomorrow!"
Her brother stared at her for a moment before he seemed to realized something. "Right, you did say you can only use it once a day. It might be why the awakening machine evaluated your innate ability as Rank F." He nodded at that conclusion.
"Hehehe... if I can increase the number of times I can use my powers, then I can multiply everything I have! I will become the richest!"
His brother looked a bit melancholic as he smiled wryly at her way, before he goes to their bathroom to wash himself. Evening came, and the two siblings were eating their dinner. Aizu's brother was looking at her little sister in concern. Despite getting to the highschool and acquiring a power that might be strong depending on how she uses it, she was still acting so carefree. Nothing changed at her. She was still there, playing her games despite them being in the middle of dinner.
'I can't delay this any longer...' He took a long mouthful of air before he sighed. His heart that was gripped with concern and anxiousness calmed down. "Aizu..."
"Yes, wait. I'll just take the rewards and finish this one..."
He shook his head, before taking something from his pocket. He has been holding onto it since a few weeks ago. It was a smooth looking green card with a few white and block square symbols in the middle of it. Aizu stopped and then gasped when she saw it.
"You've been asking for it for awhile now, and you are an adult now so..." Quickly, his little sister reached out to it and clutched it with her hands in excitement.
"Hahaha! Now I have a keycard! This house is as good as mine!" He knew she was just messing around, which caused him to smile wryly at him. Though his sister seems to have stopped before she gazed at him in suspicion. "What happened? I thought you said I am not responsible enough for this?"
That caused him to freeze for a moment, though he shook his head before he turned his gaze at her. His face serious. "Actually..." He sighed. Then he took his phone and slid it on the table.
On the phone is a digital copy of the document that he signed just this morning. A sign of affiliation to become a member of an Awakened Office.
Awakened Office, a term used for a legal company that has awakened people in it. They were like a private company that were loosely affiliated with the official government. They took care of many requests from the citizens like fighting crime, going on uninhabited and abandoned districts within a sector, taking care of threats on Society Sphere, and even leaving Society Sphere itself to go on an expedition.
The Awakened Office he joined was called the Divine Wings. An Awakened Office originally based at Sector 252, but acquired a placement on the Sector 246 because of the achievements of the leader of this Awakened Office.
"This..." Aizu stood up, and he was surprised when instead of happiness, she was furrowing her brows as she directed a concerned look at him. "Didn't you know it was dangerous to be in an Awakened Office? You will be fighting crime, you know!?"
"I know that, but I think I have to do it. I've been contemplating about this for some time now, and decided to finally accept their offer!"
That was right. Before the end of school year last month, an agent from Divine Wings reached out to him. Stating their interest for him to join them. He was hesitant to join them at first, but as he heard about the successful awakening of his sister, he felt a bit secured that she will be alright and finally took the offer.
"Why?" Aizu frowned.
"Aizu... I know you are worried, but I also told you about my dream right? I want to follow the footsteps of our family!"
She became silent after that. Staring at him with shock on her face. He winced, but still looked at his sister's eyes with determination.
Their family were members of an Awakened Office called Sentinel's Branch Office, which is located at Sector 250. Their parents are both artificially awakened by the Ascension Project, and have B Rank abilities. They were declared MIA after an expedition within the abandoned district of Sector 250. Since then, he was obsessed on trying to follow the footsteps of their parents.
"But... we can live comfortably with my powers. Can you not go, Onii-chan?" He shook his head.
"Sorry... I really want to do this."
"How about your school?"
"... I forgot to tell you. I will be staying at that office for the duration of my school year..."
"What!? Wait... does that mean...?"
"Yes. You will be the one taking care of the house for now." He noticed her frowning, so he quickly continue to speak. "I also think it will be good for our future. They are willing to pay a hundred million credits monthly when I join them."
She was still frowning, though she shook her head and then returned to her seat after awhile. "... Stupid Onii-chan... I don't care about you anymore, hmph!" He heard her mutter.
She lost her interest on her game as she ate the dinner with an irate look. He understood. Even when she doesn't act like a respectable person of this society, she still make sure to show her concern for him by always discouraging him from doing dangerous things.
He knew she would be against this, but he really want to pursue his dream. He won't admit this, but the only one holding him back was his sister. Now that she also awakened with her ability, he felt that she was safe enough even if he left her alone.
'Sorry Aizu... but I have another reason why I wanted to join an Awakened Office...'
The memory of when he got the last transmission from his father after a week of the declaration that they were missing in action. That message was imprinted into his mind.
[Son. Take care of your sister. Don't worry about us, we will manage somehow...]
It was a one way transmission that was done through primitive means. He didn't know how his father managed to do that, but as he was a veteran Sentinel Agent, he was sure he managed to jury rig some sort of radio to transmit that message to them.
Along with that message are a series of codes that gave him access to an alternate account of his father. This gave him enough to sustain both of them for the coming years.
'They are still alive somewhere... I am sure of it!'
He swore to himself since that day that he will join an Awakened Office, and then find their missing parents.
He once again apologized to his sister within his mind, while his heart was already set on walking this path. To find the parents he dearly missed.
Originally all of these were supposed to be on the prologue, but I don't write long chapters, so it was separated on some chapters...
I hope you have fun...
If you want to support me, you can go to my Kofi account here.
Thank you for reading this!~♪
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Chapter 3: The Universal Law of the Awakened Schools
Aizu felt lost since this morning. Her brother left before she woke up. He only left a note which she saw when she woke up late. The note was just him apologizing and telling her to take care of herself. The letter included that he was going to give her allowance weekly.
It was true. She just looked at her credit balance awhile ago before coming to this school and saw that 1,000 has been added to her account.
There was another thing why she felt lost. It was because she tried using her power to double her limit of using it. When she woke up, she felt that warmth within her chest as if they was concentrated energy within her body. With that fact she used her powers. Surprisingly she was rejected by her powers itself.
She doesn't feel the changes. Though she decided to give her powers the benefit of the doubt and just see for herself later.
'If my powers can't be use to increase the limit of my own powers, then what else can I do with this?' She frowned. 'If it worked, I'm sure Onii-chan wouldn't...' She shook her head.
She didn't want the only family she got left to be hurt. It was why she kept trying to dissuade him from joining an Awakened Office, or even just joining any dangerous jobs like becoming a peacekeeping officer or something. She wanted him to become laid-back and just enjoy life like her.
Because it was much better than risking their lives for the faceless masses. She doesn't know them. Her only remaining family member was much more important than any people in this city.
"Ugh... forget about it. I should just think positively..." Once more she shook her head, and then laid her head on the desk with her arms.
While she does that, the teacher doesn't care as she talked to the students.
"To those who has transferred to St. Angela's Academy, we have a slack requirement when it comes to the academics. So long as you get to the top 1,000 of your generation, then you won't fail this year."
"Hm?" She raised her head after she heard that.
"Ma'am? I don't understand, what do you mean from getting to the Top 1,000?"
"Oh, I almost forgot everyone of you were artificially awakened. This has been taught by those who were naturally awakened since young." They're homeroom teacher nursed her temple for a moment. "Each Awakened School will accept any awakened students from that year grade, but they have a rule of ranking them based on their performance. Only a thousand student from that year grade can stay if they were at the Top 1,000... as for how we rank them..."
And so the teacher explained more.
As she said, every school on Society Sphere undergoes their local ranking system to filter out the weak and only accept the strong. This has been done for hundreds of years now, and while it was tradition for the awakened families and other naturally awakened people to know this, people who haven't awakened at all didn't know this at all.
They do this so they don't waste resources for the weaker people. If an awakened is weak, then they will be taken off the school, or even forced to transfer on a lower ranking school, or even transfer to a lower sector just to continue their education.
As to how a student can get their rank, it was very simple. They simply have to fight against another student. The school will automatically rank them based on their initial assessment when they awakened their abilities, and they will have to rise through the ranks by accumulating points.
To accumulate points, they simply have to win a fight. Below are a following list of points they can accumulate based on the school ranking of the students.
With the announcement of the teacher, the students clamored. Most of them were anxious.
"Ma'am! Is it okay to ask how many students there are in our year class?"
"Good question. Last I checked, out of 40,000 children who got admitted here, only 32,000 succeeded. So there are at least 32,000 first years attending this school."
"Then... what if someone from the senior class fought the younger ones?" One of her female classmates questioned.
"Another good question. The answer is simple." A strange sinister glint occured on their homeroom teacher's eyes as she smirked. "Depending on their rank on that year, their points will be deducted that much if they lost to their junior. That was also the case for the junior if they got beaten by their senior."
Almost every classmates she have shivered at that thought. They swore to themselves not to challenge a senior student if they can help it.
Not like they will have the chance. Many of these students were hoping to at least stay at this school and graduate here. They didn't know of this rule. There are a few who weren't surprised, which indicate they were aware of this.
'I have to fight... so I can stay in this school!?' Aizu was a lot more perturbed, moreso than her classmates. 'Isn't that the total opposite of an easygoing life!?' She screamed internally.
Koizumi Aizu (Student No. 25503)
Rank 31,203rd (1st Year High School)
She looked at her phone after she scanned the sync-code on the holographic screen plastered on the pristine walls of the hallway. Their teacher told them to do that if they want to learn about their rank. A sigh escaped her lips.
"My brother didn't tell me about this... is he hiding this from me?"
Her suspicions was right. Her brother has been hiding this fact from her due to her always nagging at him about not doing anything dangerous. He has been used to hiding it that he forgot to tell her about this important bit.
"But getting to the Top 1,000...?" She browsed the rankings for the first year, and was surprised when she discovered something.
That something being the three options. One was for rankings separated by year, the other were the rankings separated by school level, and the last was the overall ranking for the whole academy.
When she chose the overall ranking out of curiosity, she saw the name Selena Zephes at the first rank. She gasped when she saw that the one who got first place was at the same year level as her.
"Hey, have you heard, the newly awakened student who got an A Rank ability?"
"Oh! I heard she defeated the strongest student of this school yesterday!"
"Really? Isn't the strongest student here an undisputed one for two years? Someone defeated him?"
"Hey guys!" A student who looked as young as her interrupted the gossiping students on the side of the hallway. "Eliza Geumhoon challenged Selena Zephes on a duel!"
"What? The Ice Princess is fighting against the newest favorite child of St. Angela's Academy!?"
"Let's watch it!"
Normally, Aizu wouldn't care about that as she liked to be low profile and enjoy life without doing anything. Though as she learned that she actually has to fight to stay at this school, she can't help but become interested at the top dogs of this school.
"I'm just going to watch for a bit..."
She really didn't want to, but she have no choice. Her brother admitted her to this school, and while she doesn't care about her own grades, she definitely didn't want to drop out of this school. That will be a slap to her brother's sincerity.
And she hated the thought of wasting what her brother gave her!
They were also going to where the assigned battlefield was located, so it made everything easier for her. She was planning to go there after she learned about her school ranking. Selena Zephes was standing in the middle of the large ring. Twenty meters apart from her was her foe. A beautiful woman with a stylish looking shoulder length snow colored hair. Her sharp sapphire eyes gazing down at the young blonde teen.
"Hah! Just because you got an A Rank innate ability, you are acting cocky now. Let me, your senior, teach you a lesson!"
Selena snorted. "I heard about you. Aren't you Brian's woman? I didn't thought the undisputed school champion will come running for his woman!"
That struck a nerve at the female senior. "You bitch! Dissing my hubby like that! I'll fucking kill you!"
"Try me, you busty sow!" She taunted her with a smirk, her hand raising before her index finger wiggled in a taunt.
As the two are throwing barbs at each other, the crowd on the wide audience seat were becoming numerous. Most of the people were excited, while those on the back or the front calmly watched.
[Please remember the rules of combat. Killing is prohibited. Inflicting fatal blows are allowed. Winning conditions are either knockout, surrendering, being put in a situation where it is impossible for the opposing party to continue fighting, and ring out. If both combatants understands these, you may start the fight!]
This was how the battle was done on this school. As they didn't have any state of the art technology like the virtual battlefield, they were forced to compromised and limit their students to fatal blows. Society Sphere values strength above all else. So inflicting fatal injuries were not illegal but rather encouraged between the Awakened.
Because strength was the universal factor to rise in status on this nation. If an awakened was scared of experiencing extreme pain, then they weren't qualified to be called strong on this nation.
So without hesitation, after that announcement, the two moved as they flared their auras. One was a bluish aura that released a chilly smog of air, and the other was a radiant aura that sparkles on the sunlight.
Selena started with a raised hand, and suddenly the whole battlefield was illuminated with a radiant light. Then it quickly turned darker. It only took the woman named Eliza a moment before she realized what was happening.
Above them ring are a bunch of blocks of gold floating for a brief second on the air before they fell. Each block of gold are ten cubic meter each, and they littered the air around the battlefield.
"Noooo!" Eliza Geumhoon screamed as she swung her arm. Cold misty air covered her surroundings, before the whole five meters of diameter of her vicinity froze in extreme cold.
Eliza's cocky face has turned into a panic. In her panicked mind, she instinctively gone for a defensive measure. Her ability makes her immune to her own freezing ability, so she hoped the ice that she formed around her protects her.
Though sadly it wasn't enough. The weight of the gold blocks that Selena created were heavy. They simply crushed the frozen area around her until she was buried by ten cubic meter gold blocks everywhere.
The students around gasped at the way she instantly defeated the overall top five of this school. Even if Eliza has a C Rank power, she was still a senior who has undergone many battles on this field. She was a veteran of using her powers.
Then she was simply thrashed by this first year. It showed the gap between the C Rank and the A Rankers.
The students are now worried. While fatal blows are allowed, killing was not. Those gold blocks are enough to flatten a person. The weight of those gold are no joke as the heavy concrete that this ring was made of cracked by the sheer weight due to the amount of gold blocks she created.
"Hmph, there is no need to worry. I made sure not to hit her."
And as proof of her words, the large holographic screen showing different angles of the battle changed scenes to show that on the middle of these gold blocks was a half a meter free space of frozen area. On the middle was the haughty challenger who was now sweating bullets despite being inside her own ice wall.
The students were baffled. This display showed both her intelligence along with her prowess. She was capable of even calculating where her blocks would fall.
Selena glanced around the crowd and saw that brown haired girl once more who was staring at her with a dumbfounded look.
'That's right! Notice me everyone!' Selena felt good that her name was spreading. She has been going around the school since yesterday, challenging everyone so she can become famous as soon as possible.
It might be anticlimactic, but for the first year students, they were in awe of her strength. For the most of them, this was the first time they saw an A Rank in action. Most of them cheered loudly at her while some stood up and clapped at her as they congratulated her.
Satisfied at the reception, Selena turned around with a sweep of her hair, before she left with a snort. As if it was choreographed, different humanoid robots with a maid-like aesthetic entered the ring and quickly carried the bunch of gold blocks as if they were hefting empty boxes.
The audience slowly stood up, most trying to catch up to the rising star, while the others planned to also fight within that ring. There are a few who laughed at the miserable expression the snow colored woman within her ice had, while a very few are silent on their seat.
One of them was Koizumi Aizu who was frozen in her seat. Her body stiff as she stared at the ring that was being cleaned up.
'Im going to fight on that ring!?'
She wasn't really expecting to fight someone like Selena. She was more worried at fighting in that arena in general.
'Fatal blows are allowed!? What did I get myself into!?' She thought in panic.
I was planning to show how normal it is for the superpowered teenagers to fight... then the fight happened and every epic thing I thought of vanished when I carefully think how OP is creating gold everywhere.
... I hope this chapter is still fine, and you enjoyed it!~
If you want to support me, you can go to my Kofi account here.
"New rising stars at the Association, not interested. A crime lord at the Sector 252? Hmm... that's the location of the school where my Onii-chan is attending, isn't it?"
Since the day she learned the difference between a normal school and an Awakened School, Aizu was thinking of her action plans. It took her a few hours of thinking before she got an idea.
The school promote combat between their students. Even fatal blows were allowed. Though even if combat was encouraged, students can decline if they were challenged. Consent still matters.
She only needed to get to the Top 1,000 before the year ends. She thought she can delay the matter until the time she needed to do it. So she wasn't participating on the battles that constantly occured within the school grounds. She preferred to watch them all while keeping to herself.
Thus, a few days has passed. Within these few days she still dreaded the day she would eventually come to that ring to fight for her placement on this school. That was why, instead of doubling her money daily as she originally planned, she doubled two things within herself. Physical Strength and Physical Durability.
As she started doubling her physical capabilities on Tuesday and it was now Friday, both of those capabilities were four times than her original. As to why she did that, she discovered something when she increased her physical capabilities.
Strength was different than durability. She tried her own strength within her house by lifting her own couch. She managed to do so easily, but her muscles were easily strained by the strength she produced, and her arms ached after a few seconds of lifting her couch. This was the same when she tried punching a tree within school grounds. The tree shook a little, but her knuckles were harmed too.
When she doubled her own durability, her body became capable of handling her own strength. So she decided to raise both starting that day.
'Im sure within a month, I'll be more than strong enough to get to Top 1,000 but..' Then she frowned. 'I have a more pressing matter today!'
Despite being in class, she was currently panicking as she touch her bag gently. Within was her broken phone.
This morning, she tried playing a game on her phone after she doubled her physical strength. It shocked her when she gripped her phone, and with a bit of an effort, it snapped in half on her tight grip. It was the first time she learned she was rough when handling her own phone, and that four times of her strength was enough to snap a phone.
'All my data are still there!' She felt like crying at that time, if not for the clock reminding her that she have to go to school.
It was obvious that she should resume strengthening herself a lot more, but she wanted to stop and think of something else. Her main purpose in life was enjoying life within the comfort of her home. It was against her goal if she destroyed her phone, which was one of the important things for her planned lazy life.
Now she have to repair this phone as most of her backup were still there. She haven't written her transfer codes on a paper as she usually saved them on her wallpaper, which were all within her phone's memory.
"A hundred credit just for repairing an old phone... that was so expensive..." She felt depressed as she muttered under her breathe, her head down with both of her elbows laid on her desk, as her hands were nursing the side of her head.
As she was busy with her thoughts, their homeroom teacher was speaking to her students about today's schedule.
"Today is the mandatory combat subject for the Awakened. Please go to the designated combat area for students."
Most of the students froze in shock, and only some of them are unperturbed as they stood up and walked together with the teacher who left after she said that. Aizu already knew of this. She read their schedule since day one. Though she was curious about this subject.
She followed along behind those who already left to follow their teacher, while the others were still confused and we're asking each other what it was about. 'Okay... what?'
As they walked to the combat dome where the school arena was located, their teacher told them about the regulations of the school, and she discovered that the end of the year assessment was not the only thing she has to worry about. There was the end of semesters too.
Their teacher told them that they have to accumulate a designated point if they wanted to pass the semester. Even the top 1,000 students can't get passed the semester without gathering the required points.
First Year highschools were always hectic because there were a lot of hopefuls who wanted to be a student of an Awakened School. As awakening their abilities through the awakening tool from the Ascension Project was free when they got into highschool, most people who hoped they have dormant innate abilities joined, so most schools prepared a lot of room for the first years.
Though as students advanced to the next grade, it will be evident that students from second to third year barely reached 1,000. There would be no need of their education system if that was the case.
So each school have their own way of filtering out weaker students from those top 1,000. It was common knowledge for those in the know, but for the people who were newly exposed to the Awakened People, this was the first time they were hearing this.
The teacher almost forgot once more, and has just recalled about it. Their teacher was the forgettable sort who recalled stuff during the time when they needed it.
"This school wasn't strict. At the first semester, first year high schoolers only needed ten points to advanced to the next semester. The second semester they will need 50 points, and then on the final one a hundred."
Everyone smart enough would immediately noticed why this system was implemented. It was to promote students to fight and developed their powers more. Combat was the fastest way of developing experience and growth of their strength and power.
'Wait... first semester will end at July. School year started this early April. Then I only have three or four months to prepare!' Aizu shook her head. 'I still have a lot of time. There is no need to panic!'
With that, her thoughts came back to her phone and lamenting how much it would cost her.
"Ma'am, what are we going to do on the mandatory combat subject?" One of her classmates, the one she recalled as the person with that floral pattern ability, asked.
"Oh, you didn't know?" Their homeroom teacher whose name was Chen turned her head at them with a smirk. "You were going to fight each other."
"... What?"
Regardless of Aizu's surprised that she let out those words, they have arrived at the combat dome, and they saw that other classes were using the arena.
Other than the ring that Eliza and Selena used to fight each other a few days ago, there were other rings that can be used on the other rooms. This one was the biggest one they have. Their seniors we're currently fighting within the ring with varying powers and technique.
They were led to another room where the other smaller rings were located. As they entered the room, a male student of their age fell on the ground roughly with a grunt. Aizu gasped along with the others at that sudden scene.
"Amazing! So that was the power of an A Rank Awakener!"
"She can hurl large gold like it was nothing. How can she carry those bulky gold in one hand!?"
"She's an A Rank. Everything is possible for her!"
On one of the rings where that male student fell stood the rising star of this school, Selena Zephes. She swung her hand on her hair with a gaze looking down on them.
"Was that all?"
"Amazing Miss Zephes! You managed to defeat them instantly!"
"Hmph. It was natural."
The teacher gushed praises at her while the girl simply acted self-important. Aizu watched, before she followed their teacher who led them a bit to the corner where an empty ring was located. The rings in this room were twenty meters square each, so there are plenty room to move.
"Remember, if you back off on this fight, it will reflect on your evaluation. We teachers evaluate our students based on their attitude and performance. It won't really affect your points and ranking, but having a good performance will give you some leeway for us."
The students tilted their head in wonder at her words. Though most of them haven't thought of ditching this class. Their stay at this school depended on their performance and standing. It was impossible for them to back off now as many were desperate to stay here. Being a student of an Awakened School was like a high position between the common folk, and most parents were proud of their children who got into this kind of school. There are many reasons, but all of it are valid enough for them to want to stay here.
Only one of them thinks otherwise.
"Can I sit this one out?" Aizu raised her hand. The others gasped at her declaration.
Even the teacher gasped as she looked at Aizu. She barely recognized her as Aizu always kept a low profile to herself. Her head always focused on her phone and was generally quiet when in their room. She also sits on the corner of the room at the back, where the window was located so it was hard to even notice her.
"A-are you sure...?"
"Yes."
Almost everyone from her class stared at her, though she doesn't care. She was not in a hurry, so she decided not to participate this early.
"... It will reflect poorly on your history."
"Sorry... I think I'm not ready yet..." Unable to think of any reason, she nervously said that as she scratched the back of her head.
Her teacher stared at her for a moment before she let her go and watch on the side.
"What a loser. Someone like that got admitted to this school?"
"Eugh... why am I in the same section as her?"
"What a coward. She doesn't deserved to have her innate ability awakened!"
She heard some of them whispered as some sneered on her way, though she simply ignored them as she goes on the corner of the room and stood there. She moved her hand to her pocket, before she stopped as she realized that she left her broken phone on her bag.
"Ugh... this will be boring..."
Regardless of how uninterested she was, she forced herself to stand here and watch the battle between her classmates. They decided their fight through a randomized pick from this school's system. It will be shown on the floating holographic screen above the area where they were fighting. Each students will be faced off by someone, and if there was someone who was left out, they will be faced off against someone from the other class of the same year.
The battle between her classmates bored her as she expected. Barely anyone from her class has a combat ability. At most, one of them, the one named Otodera Yuuki have something called Double Speed, which gave him a permanent boost on his speed. He was two times faster than his normal speed, and it caused the one he was facing to be one-sidedly beaten up.
She also have another classmate called Enrico Luciano who has an ability called Accelerated Perception. He managed to skillfully defeat his foe, as if he was reading their moves and dodging them before they acted on it.
Then there was Eduardo Papel. The one who can flip perfectly. He flipped all over the arena, and used that to knock out his opponent.
Other than those notable three, the others can't fight. That one with the floral pattern was easily defeated after she was out of rocks with a flowery shape in it. That girl personally crafted those, though it wasn't useful as expected.
There were others who have the abilities like creating confettis by closing and opening their palms together, someone who can sing without fumbling, someone who can fly for a single second, someone who can balanced plates perfectly, and even someone who can change their clothes efficiently. Those might sound useful for something mundane, but they were useless when it comes to head-on combat.
'I can win against them...' Aizu felt glad she watched that. Though it was still boring as the battle were quick or drawn out with nothing interesting happening.
This subject took all of their day from the school. They ate their lunch here as a break before they continue with the battle.
Now that all the fight were done, and they got their scores and the teacher who nodded or shook their head as they wrote something in their tablet, they were finally allowed to leave the school and get back to their home.
Aizu planned to leave quickly. She wanted to get back home as soon as possible for her phone to be repaired. Though she noticed some of her female classmates standing where she was going. Some of their arms crossed as they looked down at her.
She tried to move passed them when they suddenly blocked her. She looked up with a raised eyebrow.
"You should quit this school right now!"
"That's right! You are disgracing us with your presence!"
"We don't need a coward like you in our class!"
She rolled her eyes before she moved her arms, and gently pushed them away. They sneered and tried to resist, before they gasped in surprised as her arms easily pushed them away with ease.
"Leave me alone." Aizu grunted before she walked away quickly.
The others gawked at that. Even if they are an inch or so taller than her, they were still many of them. She managed to easily pushed them away from her path as if they were children.
The teacher also noticed that. She was surprised. She already gave up on Aizu, putting a big red X on her name to indicate that she wasn't a promising one, and was a candidate for being kicked out of this school at the end of semester. Though that display alone made her hesitate. She doubted herself whether Aizu was a coward, or someone who has a hidden potential within her.
Regardless of their thoughts, Aizu doesn't care as she goes back to the classroom to get her bag, and then leave the school. She felt uncomfortable not having played something this long.
I originally planned to show some students fighting each other, and suddenly realized that it won't add anything to the story at all. So I decided to just summarized it...
I hope you enjoy this chapter too!~
If you want to support me, you can go to my Kofi account here.
Heck of a dystopia. A society with a strict hierarchy, a might-makes-right mentality, artificial scarcity, and addictive mobile games. I guess random magical powers are something of a destabilising factor.
Maybe she can try doubling her free time, her luck, her ability to get what she wants... maybe herself? She could cause herself a lot of trouble with this ability, which I suppose is the idea.
Of course, she could always double her ability to figure out what the best thing to double is.
The others gawked at that. Even if they are an inch or so taller than her, they were still many of them. She managed to easily pushed them away from her path as if they were children.
"Gasp! What was that? She's so strong! Are these fights beneath her? Is she planning to surprise someone from a higher rank? Or maybe she's some kind of undercover agent! What is she up to?" *Meanwhile.*
Aizu: "...Must. Repair. Phone! ...Must. Recover. Dailies!"
Within Sector 254, there was a market specially focused on old technology within the commercial district near the residential area where Aizu lives. Despite being called old technology, if it was compared to modern ones, they will pale in comparison to the sleek and incredible designs along with the performance and builds of each device that were in there..
Aizu arrived on that market in a hurry. A grumble escaped her lips as she left the bus. "Ten credits for a twenty minute commute... so expensive...!" She walked hurriedly to the market.
The market was called the Old Boy's Market District. It was a large market that have the usual dress shops and restaurants, but stalls that have those old technology are numerous on every side. There were those that deals with appliances, gadgets, and even heavy stuff like cars.
This was one of the place she usually frequents on her middle school dats. She usually ditched school and secretly used some of the allowance she saved up to upgrade her phone to keep up with today's trends whenever she came here.
She walked with familiarity on her steps until she arrived at a small stall. On the side of the stall was a glass container that displayed old phones of different models. All obsolete on Society Sphere standards at higher sectors, but were relevant within the lowest sectors like this one.
A man with a bandanna was behind the counter. He was busy tinkering with a flat tablet when she walked on the stall and gently knocked on the table of the stall.
"Huh? Oh! It's you, how are you?" The guy looked up and then stopped after he recognized her. He stood up. He was pretty tall and lanky that he has to lean his body down for a bit as he talked to her.
"Not good. My phone is broken!" She doesn't have the time to have small talk with him as she took her phone within her bag and put it's two halves on the desk. "Can you fix it quickly? I need it right now!"
"Woah... what happened there!?" The man quickly took the two halves carefully. He took it with his hands and inspected them.
"I broke it..." She scratched the back of her head as she said that.
"How... wait, that uniform is from St. Angela's Academy isn't it?" With her nod, he suddenly laughed. "Okay... I understand. This will costs you a lot, are you fine with that?"
"How much is it. I want it as soon as possible!"
"If you want a quick job, that will normally be a hundred and twenty credits, but as you are my long time customer, I'll give you a friendly discount. How about seventy credits?"
She clasped her hands as she nodded quickly. "Thanks! I'll pay that quickly!"
"Okay. You don't have your phone, so just use the terminal on that side to proceed with the payment."
She quickly moved to the small square device installed on the side of his stall. After she filled out the ID number she was intricately familiar for a long time and the password, she easily accessed her interbank account and quickly transferred the required amount of payment to him.
Credits was the universal currency of Society Sphere. They usually do their transactions digitally. Even children were given their own interbank account as there were no hard cash that existed on this era anymore.
"Oh right... can you turn it more durable. I think I might break it again if you just repaired it..."
"... You'll have to add a hundred credits if you are going to ask for that. Materials are not cheap, you know?"
"A hundred!?" She gasped. She stared at him with a face of disbelief.
"It was already discounted. Normally I would ask three hundred credits for that kind of upgrade. The kind of materials I need to increase the durability of your phone are not easy to come by." He pointed at one of the phones on the glass container displayed on his stall. "Or you can just buy Shenzhen 9090 or Wujing Ultimate Edition. They might be bulky, but those phones can withstand a grenade explosion!"
"No way. Those were too expensive!" She said with a snort. She saw the price and saw her allowance were not enough for it.
"Then, you will just have to pay me a hundred for those upgrades. The time to finish up your new phone will take longer though..."
"How long...?"
"At least an hour if no one's going to distract me."
She bit her lips, but still decided to go along with it. At the same time, even as she felt reluctant at it, she operated the terminal for a moment and transferred a hundred credits more. After he got it, he thanked her before he started tinkering with her broken phone.
"... By the way, what's your innate ability?" The sudden question shocked her for a bit.
"... It's called Doubling. It's a pretty neat ability. I think I can become rich quickly with it." Actually, she hoped to do that as soon as possible. She felt worried due to the rules of the school so she have shelved that plan and was trying to strengthen herself first.
"So... how 'bout your brother?" The mention of him made her to frown.
"... He's doing fine, I hope." She grumbled.
"You hope? What happened?" He looked up at his tinkering to her.
She recalled he was one of her brother's friend at middle school. They haven't met for a long time, but the occasional ones they did met they were still in talking terms. It was thanks to her brother that she learned of this stall's existence.
"... He got accepted into an Awakened Office."
He stared at her incredulously. "Isn't that a good thing?"
"But it was dangerous!" She felt a bit mad. "I browsed the internet. The average death rate of agents from Awakened Offices is high! It was obvious because they fought against awakened criminals and the monster outbreaks from dimensional breaches on a daily basis! Onii-chan shouldn't be doing those dangerous stuff anyway! We can become rich and enjoy life with my powers!"
"Those are normal things for an Awakened Person though?"
"Whatever...!" She shook her head and turned around in disappointment.
The guy just shrugged his shoulders before he resumed tinkering with her phone.
Aizu felt a bit alone in her thoughts. Majority of the people from this city saw being an Awakened Agent as a success story. Being one was already enough to cause common folk like them to celebrate. It was such a big deal for all of them. She don't feel the same. Her parents died with that profession. She didn't want her brother to follow up on that.
She can't understand it, but the thought of working for the faceless masses made her uncomfortable. Like she have this instinctive desire to avoid that kind of responsibility.
The sound of the crowd around the market and the people who called out for customers to visit them filled the silence between the two, before the man behind the counter spoke once more.
"What's your progress on Silver Princess?"
His question stopped her from sulking. Her attitude changed instantly as he spoke to her about one of her favorite games.
"I already got all the Divine Artifacts and have all the characters in my roster. All of their bonds are maxed out, and I've already done all the campaigns and read all the stories until the latest update..."
"Damn girl! You're more of a hardcore gamer than me! I haven't even got the Monarch Version of Sable!"
She smirked at that. "Oh my, really? I already got her at my second pull first day she released... F2P by the way!~"
"You cheeky brat! Be like that, I won't give you any discounts the next time you came here!"
That caused her to panic. "No, wait! Sorry! Don't be like that!"
They made small talk with each other as the man repaired and upgrade her phone. The day passed and Saturday arrived. Noon was fast approaching when Aizu finally woke up. She rolled around her bed for a moment until a few minutes later, before she stood up with a grunt and wipe her drowsy eyes with her hand. She left her bed after a stretch of her arms.
Several minutes later, she was done washing and changed into a set of comfortable and casual dress. She took her phone along with her as she goes to the living room. She operated the phone until she got to the page she was looking for, and then ordered something.
This has been her routine since her brother left her with the house. She doesn't know how to cook so she ordered food online. As for cleaning, she sometimes does it though only when she was in the mood. Currently the trash can was filled with pizza containers or takeout boxes.
After she was done ordering, she changed to a game app and spent her time playing a game. Taking care of her dailies before she heard a ring on her window. She looked at the window and saw a drone hovering above it. Below the spider-like drone was a large box with the logo of the site she visited awhile ago.
"Thanks." When she opened the window, she said even when she knew it won't reply.
The drone entered and then hovered near the floor for a moment before it gently put the box on the ground and then unclasped it's magnetic clamps around it before it hovered away and leave the premise of her house.
"Drone delivery is the cheapest and fastest delivery I can afford right now. If I have more money, I would have tried the instant delivery." She muttered to herself.
She then took the box to the dining room and opened the box. The fragrant aroma leaking from the bento box made her satisfied. Her appetite became excited. She took the bento and the drinks out of the box before she put the box to the side.
It was a food from their ancestral origin which was from the extinct nation of Japan. A bento box filled with Japanese cuisine within. Despite having tasted other ancestral cuisines from other extinct nations, Japanese Cuisine were still preferable for her palate.
"Pizzas might be good, but eating rice is still the best thing when eating something!"
And so she ate the meal she got. A combination of rice, ebifurai, salad, eggrolls, and soy sauce. Her drink was a bottle of ice tea.
As she ate skillfully with a chopstick, she was contemplating what to enhance next. She felt that four times strength and durability won't be enough to get to the top 1,000. She was anxious of that school. She felt like she have to prepare more just in case something bad happened. It was a gut feeling.
Though she can't increase her strength anymore. She didn't want to break her phone for the second time. She wasn't sure if increasing durability will help her on that school.
"Hmm... well, what about speed?"
She wanted to discover what will happen if she increased her speed. Durability might be good, but she don't have a hobby of standing and letting others hit her. It was preferable to dodge than to try out if her durability can handle something like large gold blocks falling on her, or extreme cold freezing her.
With that decision in mind, she used her powers and thought of multiplying her speed.
"... I don't feel anything change..." She muttered under her breathe before reaching out for another ebifurai with her chopstick.
Then she overreached and pushed the bento box away from her. She was surprised, and then tried to return the box near to her. Her hand moved a lot faster than she was expecting to, and she overreached once more.
"What!?" She stood up, and quickly lost her balance when she took a step back. The speed which moves are more than what her mind can respond to.
She landed on her butt. Fortunately unharmed, but was shocked at this new development.
"... Why do I feel like I am unused to my body!?" She screamed, confused at this new problem.
I would have added another entry that shows how she will take care of it, but it was already late here so I decided to end this chapter here...
See you later everyone!~
If you want to support me, you can go to my Kofi account here.
Quite often I find myself thinking "when's the anime" while reading your works. The only downside is when you stop suddenly, but you make up for it by starting a new one.
She can't understand it, but the thought of working for the faceless masses made her uncomfortable. Like she have this instinctive desire to avoid that kind of responsibility.
One day, the drone is going to say "you're welcome" and she's going to mildly freak out.
Aizu: "Please, no robotic rebellion! I don't want to lose my saved data."
Yesterday was hectic. She kept stumbling on her every steps. A half step turned into full steps. A meter turns into two. Small movements became wide ones. She can't even stop herself as she moved. Whenever she tried to move, it already happened before she reacted to it.
Her strength worsen the situation due to her uncontrollable body. Her house was a mess due to being unable to control her body for the first few hours. It was when she tried moving at a snail's pace that she can barely react to any of her movements.
She took the minimum effort of putting things back within her home, and quickly gave up after the amount of effort it needed to do it. She also felt tired so she stopped and returned to playing with her phone, which she also failed horribly as her fingers were faster than her own reaction speed. She feared she might break her phone so she stopped.
She spent the whole night Saturday in agony as she watched anime on their flat screen wall mounted TV at the living room. She barely felt enjoyment as her mind kept coming back to her games. It was torture on her heart.
Now as morning came, she woke up on the sofa. The TV was still on, and her state of clothing look like a disaster. She have tried sleeping on her room, failed, and came back. She tried to change out of her pajamas at least, failed also, and left things as it is. It took too much effort for her.
The warmth of power within her chest came back so she tried wishing for something.
"I want to double all of my capabilities!"
Invalid action. You can only double a single thing you possessed.
She tried to sit up, and took a moment of correcting her posture with careful movements before she finally started to contemplate.
Doubling her speed made her sense of balance chaotic. She can't keep up with the enhancement of her speed.
"This reminds me of DSRPGs. They have the Strength, Vitality, Agility, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, and the likes. What if I just increased my dexterity? Maybe it might solve my problem?"
Digital Session Role Playing Game (DSRPG) was an upgrade for Table Top Role Playing Game (TTRPG) some hundreds of years ago. The advancement of technology made it possible for AI to assist people to play these kind of role playing games easily. It was immersive, and a niche community has formed around it. Since the first year of middle school she joined on some sessions on DSRPG on the internet, and at first have fun with it. Though after two years she became fed up after she always ends up as the hero of their sessions.
She can't help it. Whenever they encounter events that tests their morales, she have this inexplicable desire to always do the right thing. She first thought she was just immersed at the world, but later felt creeped out at her constant decisions of doing good as if she was guided to do it.
Anyway, she played DSRPGs. She recalled that usually, Agility indicates how fast a character was which gave them modifiers on initiatives or movement actions. Dexterity was like reflexes, reaction speed, and the likes. She knew of a DSRPG that included balance for Dexterity, so she thought it might help her.
She looked at her hands before she hesitantly moved them. "... Hm?" She slowly stood up, before she moved carefully near the couch. Her face slowly lit up in happiness after a few minutes. "Great! Now I can finally move normally!" She was assured now.
She can control her body like how she used to. She doesn't overreach or overstep anymore. In her excitement, she ran jumped around her house, and tried even running around for a bit.
"Ack! Too fast!" Though she was surprised to feel the speed of her sprint. She almost hit the wall. If not for her hands and elbows stopping her momentum, she would have bumped into the wall of her home.
She can control her body, but her mind can't keep up with her speed. She was still too fast for her own reaction time.
'... I have to think of a way to solve this problem...' After she realized that she can't run without bumping into things, she decided to just walk around. At least she can use her phone without the fear whether she would break it accidentally.
It was evening when she got a call from her brother. She read it and saw it was an update like how he was doing, and concerns whether she was alright or if she was eating fine. Along with that was him notifying her of her allowance for this week, before a notification for a money transfer occured on her notification bar.
She was shocked when she saw the amount he gave her. Twenty thousand credits on this week. He said that he got the normal daily allowance from the office, which was 50,000 credits just for their daily activities. He told her about the difference between Sector 254 and Sector 252, and her brother told her that he was shocked when he learned about it.
As he was on scholarship when he got admitted on an Awakened School at Sector 252, he thought the whole city was just a more fancier version of Sector 254. Everything was almost free for him due to his scholarship.
Now that he was living in that city, he learned that a simple meal there already cost 1,000 credits. The meal were also very extravagant. Something that only a family can finish. There were also snacks which costs a hundred or so credits, and they tasted more delicious than the food from the restaurants on Sector 254.
Now it was her turn to be stunned after being regaled about those things that were unbelievable for a resident of Sector 254. It shows the gap between the life quality of this sector and that sector.
She was surprised that the daily allowance was separate for his monthly salary. Which was insane. There was something he left out, which was that his peers were weirded out by him as he was stringent when he spends money. Even without that knowledge, she was already baffled at what she learned.
'... Should I try and make some effort on my school? Maybe I can stay on higher sectors too if I tried my best...!?' She shook her head. 'Nope. I heard that higher sectors are more dangerous than the lower ones. I'm fine staying here!'
She heard that there were more dangerous events on higher sectors than the lower ones. Constant incidents, large scale destructions, dimensional breaches, etc. It was more scarier to live on those than the lower sectors whose danger were only the rare chances of dimensional breaches, gangs, and awakened criminals who thought they can win against a lower sector by their lonesome.
She didn't want to make an effort just to be pressured to do more after she advanced on her life. She kept repeating this to herself, but she preferred advancing in life without any hard work. She wasn't ready to take that responsibility.
"Slow and peaceful life is still the best option for me!"
She was grateful for the additional money. She was becoming anxious as time passed. Her budget was getting low because of the takeouts she kept ordering these last few days. They costs a hundred credits for each, including the drone delivery.
After she checked her credit balance, and then responded to her brother, she returned her focus on her own problems.
"... If I can't keep up with my own speed, then maybe I should increase my reaction speed or something? Is it different than dexterity?" No one answered her, and no prompt appeared on her eyes. "Well... I'll find out tomorrow then..."
She spent the night with those thoughts as she played with her phone until she fell asleep.
She woke up and the first thing she did was doubling her reaction speed. As she hoped, reaction speed was separated from dexterity. It was doubled and now she can run and react to it without feeling like she was overwhelmed by the speed.
'It's still pretty fast on my eyes, but I can move away before hitting something.'
Just like she said, everything felt so fast to her whenever she used her full speed. Though now she can react in time. As if her body can instinctively moved on it's own at the first glance of her surroundings. It was like her body can react faster than the time she can think about it.
'Does that mean thought process and reaction speed are different things too? My power is too strict if that was the case!'
Regardless of her thoughts, it was what it was. She felt a bit of a headache as her schedules are being piled with different purposes. She wanted to multiply her wealth, though she can't do that.
'My classmates are also strangely offended to me... I really need to prepare myself...' She sighed tiredly.
Other than thought process, she planned on increasing her stamina. She learned that she have a pitiful amount of stamina. She easily got tired after a bit of physical activity.
As she got to the gate, she noticed a brown blur on her periphery. With a blink of her eyes, she felt a numb feedback on her forearm. She realized she raised her arm and blocked a fist directed at her.
Those who ambushed her in front of the school gates also gasped. Surprised that she reacted that quickly.
Her surprised quickly turned into a frown as she stared at them with narrowed eyes.
"What are you doing?"
She recognized them. These were the same girls who told blocked her that Friday. She might not be sociable, but she wasn't a bumbling mess when she encountered something like this.
As she saw them only gawking at her, she snorted before she walked past them. "Leave me alone." She said. Her voice was a bit cold as she said that.
She felt irritated. She doesn't know why they were so mad at her. 'Is it because I didn't participate at that time?' She was confused.
She tried to ignore the glare directed behind her as she goes to her classroom. 'This is uncomfortable...' She can't focused on her game as she can felt the hostile gazes of many of her classmates. Some sneered at her, and others whispered to each other as they occasionally glanced at her.
Their homeroom teacher was teaching them arithmetic. She doesn't look like she cared that her class weren't listening to her. Aizu opted to ignore the glance and lower her head for a bit. Burying herself with the screen of her phone when she flinched as she heard the screech of the school chair on the floor.
Her head snapped to the side and saw a man with a spiky hair got closer to her. She recalled this was Otodera Yuuki, the one who got the permanent speed boost power.
"You. Let's fight on the combat arena!"
She blinked her eyes for a moment. She froze at the abrupt challenged he issued at her in front of the class. Her other classmates looked at the show and they were openly showing their sneers or contempt against her.
"Uh... why?"
"Because your the only one who haven't fought someone yet. No one from this class likes that!"
She can't understand that logic. "I refused. No one can force me, anyway."
"Ma'am!" Their homeroom teacher stopped and turned her attention to the guy after he called out to her. Their homeroom teacher was still smiling. "Isn't the purpose of our school to find the strong and filter out the weak? I think this one isn't qualified for this school!"
"What are you--??"
"That's right. This school filters out those who are weak. The rules has been made so no weaker students can rise along with the strong."
"Then you should kick her out of this school!" Another stood up. It was one of the girls who was unusually hostile to her.
"... Isn't this bullying. Ma'am, I think something like this is not allowed..." She calmly explained, but she was met with laughter. She even heard her homeroom teacher chuckled for a moment.
"I'm sorry, Miss Koizumi. This much is fine within an Awakened School. If you want to take care of a problem, you can only rely on yourself."
'What!?' Aizu was baffled at the casual way their homeroom teacher dismissed her.
The others sneered at her.
"Come on, if you are an Awakener, you should accept his challenge!"
"Having a coward on our class was a disgrace! Don't you have any shame!"
"If you are not going to fight, then you should just quit this school! We don't need someone like you!"
She looked around and saw most of them are glaring at her with contempt. Others were looking down at her as if they were looking at a someone lower than them.
"This will reflect on your records if you decline his challenge. I suggest you accept it, Miss Koizumi."
'What the hell!? Even the teacher is going along with them!?'
This was an alien concept for her. In a normal middle school she attended, something like this was not allowed. The school would be inspected, the parents of the bullies responsible would be forced to pay reparations for any physical or emotional damage they inflicted on the victim, and there was a possibility that the school might shut down depending on how harsh this injustice was going on.
Aizu doesn't know that on Awakened Schools, it was normal for students to suddenly fight. It was encouraged by the faculty members. Even if they were in the middle of a class, if someone wanted to fight, they can just leave the class and fight someone. Because academics only contributes ten percent of their grades. The ninety percent goes to their overall performance on combat.
Yuuki sneered as he spread his arms theatrically. "I have a better idea. If you win then you can decide what to do with me, but if you lose, then you should quit this school! How about that?" His eyes glint maliciously as he stared at her dumbfounded look.
Yuuki saw her as an easy prey. After he saw her stepping out of the mandatory combat subject last Friday, he knew he can defeat her. He planned to embarrassed the girl until she was forced to accept his challenge. Even if she was stubborn and doesn't accept, the school would surely kick her out. Awakened Schools doesn't welcome cowards and weaklings. He learned that from his brother.
He planned to acquire the required points to advance to the next semester. He won't let her decline a challenge anymore. For him, she was a free point for him to rise on the ranks of this school.
Aizu was conflicted. 'Im not ready yet!' She screamed internally. Though even with that, that person whom her classmates were slowly respecting due to his prowess has cornered her. She wasn't delusional to expect her teacher to save her from this predicament.
"... Can I decline?" She still decided to decline after awhile.
"!?!?" Yuuki felt his muscles shivered at the cold stare she directed at him. There was something inexplicable with her stare. As if a lion just set it's eyes on it's prey.
"Yes, you may decline. Though it wasn't guaranteed that you can avoid a fight..."
After her teacher said that, Aizu was a bit late to processed what happened. A blur just passed through her eyes. She finally realized what happened when she looked at Yuuki's direction, and the familiar phone that was now on his hand.
"This is..." She glared at him, before she quickly turned to her homeroom teacher. "This was too much. Can't you do something about this?"
"No? I told you Miss Koizumi, you can only rely on yourself..." Her smile felt a bit creepy as responded to her.
"I saw you always play with your phone. If you don't want me to break this phone, you have to accept my challenge!"
"What if I punch you right now?" Her patience has ran thin. She was close to blowing her anger at him.
"Then you will have to fight us too!" The others stood up and surrounded her. All of them have mocking gazes or sneers at her.
She looked around her. All of them directed hostile or mocking gazes at her. Most of them wanted to kick her out, and some wanted to beat her up for free points.
She clenched her fist as she glared at the fastest student on their class. 'She said I only have to rely on myself right... then!!' In an instant she thought of that, she had kicked the floor. Her arm cocked behind her before she threw her fist at his face.
Her speed surprised the others. Even Yuuki was surprised that he barely reacted. A resounding crunch was heard before they realized Yuuki was blown to the other side of the room. He hit many of the desks and tables, and some almost stumbled or fell on their butts as his body hit their shoulders or sides.
Her phone that spun in a parabola on the air was caught by her as it fell after a moment. She glanced at them for a moment. All of them were silent. Surprised evident on their face.
Then she turned to her homeroom teacher who was still smiling. "Was that allowed too?" She asked coldly with a frown.
"Of course. You won't get any points on beating someone on the school. You can only take points when you fought them on the battle dome." Her teacher helpfully explained.
"... What a messed up system..." Her mood soured, she took her bag and walked out of the room. Slamming the door shut on her way out.
Chen, the homeroom teacher smiles before she took her tablet and erased the large red X on Koizumi Aizu's name. "There is still some hope to that child." She muttered under her breathe.
This chapter further shows how insane the rules are within an Awakened School.
Then people would ask "What about those whose powers have nothing to do with fighting someone?"
That will be answered later as the story progresses. I'm still looking for the right slot to put the fact where those people goes when they failed Awakened Schools.
I'll only say that Awakened Schools are the most known, but not the only school a person with powers can attend. Awakened Schools are just well known because most Awakened Offices recruits their agents on those schools. Most people on Society Sphere wanted to be a part of an Awakened Office because of the many benefits they will get there. This benefits were briefly mentioned on this chapter through her brother texting to her. It wasn't all of the benefits.
I hope you have fun with this chapter!~
If you want to support me, you can go to my Kofi account here.
What a stupid system.
Fights from day one before anyone has a chance to learn to use their power.
Anyone with a power that needs to build up or is not geared toward 1 vs 1 fights, like getting stronger for each opponent, will be banished to a lower segment.
Nothing stops you from ganging up and crippling/kill someone who is a danger to your position out of official fights. Gold girl would be sent to the hospital quickly by a bunch of upperclass man with leadpipes if they were not awed by her A.
Nothing taught is useful for the students (the school does not teach fighting, but they are graded on fighting)
"I'm A Former Hero(ine) Reincarnated In Another World And Trying To Enjoy My Second Chance At A Peaceful Life, But This New World's YA Dystopia Bullshit Is Starting To Piss Me Off!"
...Hmmm, no, on second thought I think your title works better.
On the corner of the cafeteria sat Aizu who was texting her brother about what happened this morning. She didn't have to wait for a long time before a call came through. She quickly answered the call.
"Aizu, is that true!?" Surprise was evident on her brother's voice.
"Yes. They suddenly became hostile and started ganging up on me."
"How did that happen!? You are in scholarship, you shouldn't be experiencing things like that!"
"Beats me." Aizu just felt tired.
"... I'm going to talk to the principal. Before that, are you fine. Did they hurt you?"
"Didn't I tell you? I punched the guy in the face!"
He was speechless for a moment. "I see. Then, do you need anything?" He was concerned at her. He sounded as if he was going to go back to this sector regardless of the contract he had with the Divine Wings office.
She wanted to pull out of this school, but she felt hesitant. She only got a scholarship here because her brother did something when he was still a student on this Awakened School. It was practically impossible for a poor family like them who only have a daily income of a hundred credits to attend a school that had a very expensive tuition fee every semester.
It only became possible for her brother to attend the school in the first place and awaken his powers through the inheritance he got from their father. His desire to follow the footsteps of his parents was strong that he used up most of the money they saved up just so he can have powers and did his best on the school.
She didn't want to waste the hard work of her brother even if she knew she was lazy and unmotivated to put an effort to something. So she clamped up on her desire to pull out of this school before the words left her mouth.
"I'm fine. I just need a rest."
"If you're sure. I'll drop the call now... okay?"
"Yes.'
After the call she laid her head on the table and turned her gaze at the other students. Most of them were showing off their powers, while some were challenging each other.
'Why do people wanted to be a student of an Awakened School? I mean I understand the desire to get powers, but was it worth it if they will experience this constant chaos around here?' She frowned. 'I think the people at UnitedSequence were telling the truth. Awakened People are just naturally nuts...' That caused her to stopped with her thoughts before she immediately sat up and shook her head. 'I won't become like them... right...?'
She noticed that her thoughts were going to weird places again, so she stopped and decided to eat something. She missed her brother's cooking, but her brother was currently an intern on an office at the higher sector so she would have to endure it.
"I have a lot of money right now, so I think I can afford something delicious today." She decided to indulged herself with something expensive on the cafeteria. The St. Angela's Academy was the most prestigious Awakened School all over Sector 254. Though if it was compared to other Awakened School, it was one of the smallest. Not even those at the Sector 250 and above would think of acknowledging it.
Still, this was the Sector 254. Every people who lived on both Sector 255 and Sector 254 dreamed of attending this school to proved their worth on Society Sphere. Even at this time, people wanted to acquire superpowers. It was a symbol of success to the common folk at these two sectors.
This might be why the quality of education within this sector was going down the drain. Since their continuous decline on the ranking and being stuck on Sector 254 without any chance of getting permit to make a foothold on the higher sectors, they were desperate on having an ace.
Their former ace was surprisingly Aizu's brother, Koizumi Tadano. He possessed a C Rank ability called Holy Armaments. It was an ability that can summon any holy equipments for himself. By equipping them, most of his capabilities were boosted drastically. It depends on the type of equipment he summoned for himself.
It was only limited to himself so he unfortunately can't share it to the others, but it was still a decent power with a versatile kit in it.
Though that guy paled in comparison with their newest star. Selena Zephes was a treasure compared to Koizumi Tadano. The girl had an ability called Golden Manifestation, which had a capability that was more than just creating gold.
The principal, Jenny Rooker, was busy with compiling plans for their school when her phone rung. She took it and saw the familiar number of the former ace of this school. She have an inkling why he was calling her as she accepted the call and put the phone besides her ear.
"What is it, Koizumi Tadano?" There was a nonchalant tone on her voice as she resumed with her work even when she talked to the guy on the phone. She only used a single hand as she resumed with her compiling of digital documents.
"I heard from my little sister that her classmates were ganging up on her. Didn't you promised me that you will take care of her with that scholarship!?" There was palpable anger on that tone. It was thick enough that she felt it by simply hearing it.
"You seem to be forgetting something, Mister Koizumi. I only said I will take care of your sister if she is strong. Do you think I'll favor a trash just because of a favor I owe from someone who ditched our school for another?" She was unperturbed at the hostility on the other side of the call.
She hoped for his sister to awaken with something strong like his, but when she saw that disappointing ranking, she knew she have to ditch her. She doesn't care if the former ace became mad at her. It won't impede her goal on making a foothold on the higher sectors.
"That was..." She knew Tadano can't make a come back there. "Even if that was the case, you should remember what I did for you! Are you going to turn your back at that just because of self-interest!?"
Tadano knew how this school works. The way they ran the school were typical of any Awakened School. They filter out the weak and let the strong remain. It was to raise their standing. If they got a foothold on a higher sector, they will be set for life. It was easy to come back to a lower sector. It was hard to get permit to enter a higher one.
It doesn't matter if the attitude of their student were the worst. If they can rise at least a single sector, then they can enjoy all the benefits. Many Awakened Schools from higher sectors did these and then settle on lower sectors while they have the benefits from the above. It was a lucrative way of living life.
"You knew how I ran things here. I am genuinely grateful for all the help you gave this school, but you should know that sentiments doesn't matter. We have a new person that might raise us to the top. We don't need to cuddle up with you anymore..."
"... I shouldn't have tried so hard if this was how you're going to repay me!"
"You've been a part of the Awakened Scene for two years now. You should know by now how wicked we are when it comes to opportunities like this..." She recalled something. "By the way, if your sister didn't do her best, we would be kicking her out regardless of her 'scholarship'. She can still enjoy the privilege of not paying the tuition for this year, but that was the only thing I can promise you."
"... Tsk."
The phone call ended. She didn't mind and resumed on her work.
'That is right. We don't need your help anymore, Koizumi Tadano. Putting all of our resources to Selena Zephes will be the right decision. She is useful and gullible, which is just right for us to rise to the top!' The fire of ambition burn brightly within her heart. She felt her dream getting closer within her grasp. Aizu skipped her class. She left the school grounds as she wasn't in the mood for the shenanigans of that school. She was on a bus, and she has designated her location to her home. Now she was focused on her phone. On her phone wasn't a game. It was a site that lists all the available Awakened Schools on this sector. As she doesn't want to waste her brother's effort to give her that scholarship, she was hesitant, though she was constantly fidgety. She wanted to find a new one.
Most of the Awakened Schools have fancy names. There were those named as the Purple Void Academy, Wuxin School, Reisa Academy, Croix Academia, Nexus High, and many more. She was baffled when she saw the tuition fees on each Awakened Schools, with some even having special requirements in them.
"500,000 credits on a single semester!? And what's with bringing jewelries and crystals... is it relevant!?" She ignored the other gazes of the other passengers who glanced at her. She recalled something and looked for the page of her current school. "... Ten million credits..." It felt like her soul was leaving her mouth as she reads that ridiculous number.
Fortunately there were no additional requirements, but it was the most expensive she have ever seen. Now she knew why most people at UniqueSequence said only rich or the desperate can afford those schools.
"Wait... does that mean my classmates are rich?" Now she was unsure. On her perception, the few classmates she recalled like the flip master and the floral pattern girl doesn't look rich to her.
She was just thinking of changing her thoughts to something more productive when she heard the ringtone of her phone which originated from one of the popular gacha games she played. She opened her phone and saw the familiar number of her brother. She accepted the call and put it close to her ear.
"Aizu... sorry..."
"Huh... what?" She tilted her head. "What happened?" He responded honestly after she prompted him.
Her brother tried to talk to the Principal but learned that the Principal doesn't support him anymore after her assessment. It was unfair, and she felt a pang of guilt at that. She felt it was her fault somehow.
"... I am fine if you want to drop out of that school. I'll think of something. It is dangerous staying there now without the backing of a teacher." He sounded certain, which made her frown.
"What was that? Did you know this will happen?" Her eyes narrowed as she frowned.
"... Right." He sounded hesitant. She prodded him for a bit with irritation, and he relented and spilled the beans after awhile.
He explained about the basics of the Awakened Scene. That it wasn't as honorable as the TV made it out to be. Awakened People were ran by self-interest. They didn't became an Awakened to work for the populace. Rather they worked just to advance in life.
Which was in line with the common slogan for the Awakened. The TV technically didn't lie, though it was misleading as it shows the success story of those who showed they were doing good. Summarizing things that were only good to the ears of the common folk.
Awakened People desired to go to the higher sector because there were many benefits on rising on the higher sectors. If they got the permit, they can access those sectors and acquire the benefits that comes along with those sectors. It wasn't just the comfort of life, but more power that would become available to people if they reached the higher sectors. His seniors told him that on Sector 200 and above, actual permanent enhancers and destructive weapons were the norms. Credit was irrelevant on those parts, and they used a different way to trade with each other.
There were those who wanted power, fame, wealth, and many more. Those are all possible on higher sectors, mostly the first ten sector which was said to be capable of giving everything a resident of that place wanted.
"Sounds unbelievable..." She can't help it. Those words just left her mouth with disbelief.
"Anyway, you should understand. Most find that being teachers are the best way of rising to the top. They will only rely on the strength of a student that has a higher ranking ability than them." He sighed. "It was disgusting... but it was normal for an Awakened to do just that to get a permit to the higher sector."
She nodded. She somewhat understood now. She had seen the permit ticket to Sector 252 and Sector 253. They were fancy looking cards made of unknown material. The only difference those two has were the numbers. She also have a permit for both Sector 255 and 254, but those were stuff she got since young. She can't be called a resident of that sector without these permits.
If getting a foothold was that extremely beneficial, then it was understandable why most people seems to have lost their morals.
"I'm surprised this nation doesn't explode upon itself..." She muttered under her breathe.
That was something she was curious about. 'How come this nation is still standing despite that dystopian mindset!?' She can't understand if there was a suppressing force within the city that puts these exploitative people in check, and if there was that kind of force, why don't they take care of the constant crime and other problems of the city itself?
If she was one of those conspiracy theorists, she would have thought the higher echelons of Society Sphere were deliberately causing people to be this scummy and creating artificial conflicts within each other. It was nonsensical but it might be true, because the Awakened acted so out of this world based on her own perception.
"I don't know the full reason why they weren't taking care of the crime, but there is a force behind the city that took care of serious problems like that. I met one of Society Sphere's enforcers myself. They were... out of this world..."
She recalled that. Her brother regaled her about something ridiculous, though he didn't elaborate that time so she thought he was just messing around.
"... Anyway, what do you plan? Are you going to drop out and find another school? I'll try and support you as best as I can!"
She thought about it for a moment, before she quickly decided.
"Right. I'll quit that school. There are other Awakened Schools out there, right?"
He gasped. "That was... fast..." She was confused why he was surprised.
"I don't feel any attachment to that school at all. In fact, I already wanted to quit after that horrible experience."
"I see... then, where are you going to transfer?"
"I don't know, Onii-chan. I'd like it if it was a place where I can laze around like St. Angela's!"
Her brother chuckled. "Okay. Though... do you want to attend another Awakened School, or just a normal school."
"I think I will go with another Awakened School..." She trailed as she glanced at the windows of the bus and saw something. It was a billboard that showed an application to another school.
It was a school for those who have powers, but it wasn't an Awakened School. Rather it was called a Specialty School.
"Onii-chan... what is a Specialty School?" She wasn't interested on this kind of things as she was more focused on her games and lazy life, so she was clueless.
"Oh those... Specialty Schools are for those people who are not qualified for Awakened Schools. Why?"
She grinned. "I think I just found where I wanted to attend next!" Her eyes lit up as she read that floating billboard.
On the floating billboard was an image of a lot of obsolete technology from this age. Below was the term Specialty School with some words that state the staff of this specialty school was looking for new students with powers geared towards it.
The name of the Specialty School was The Tinkerer's Hub. A Technological Specialty School.
UnitedSequence is a local internet forum based on Sector 255 up to Sector 253. The topics covered on those forums are anything about the general climate, politics, local intrigues, celebrities, trends, etc. on those three sectors. I can't find any place to put this info on the chapter so I just decided to put this on author's note.
About this chapter... uh... I don't know, I just wrote what I want to write. Revealing some of the things about the world and showing that people from Awakened School were scummy in general.
The chapter is mostly spent on dialogue. I felt a headache writing all of that, so I hope I did it write...
See you later everyone!~
If you want to support me, you can go to my Kofi account here.
Since the first year of middle school she joined on some sessions on DSRPG on the internet, and at first have fun with it. Though after two years she became fed up after she always ends up as the hero of their sessions.
Now that he was living in that city, he learned that a simple meal there already cost 1,000 credits. The meal were also very extravagant. Something that only a family can finish. There were also snacks which costs a hundred or so credits, and they tasted more delicious than the food from the restaurants on Sector 254.
